Tag: Trees

31 Days Wild: 1st May 2025

Another Judith suggested observing 31 Days Wild during May after the example of the Wild Life Trust’s 30 Days Wild for June. So taking up challenge, I shall try and note something each day in this blog.

I’m currently in a small village Warwickshire village keeping my mother company as she recovers from a recent illness. Compared with East Sheen in London – which I always feel is very green – Frankton feels very much greener. From where I’m sitting I can see seven types of trees – beech, horse chestnut, elder, ash, yew, sycamore and hawthorn. The latter are bedecked with May flowers, whilst the chestnuts have blossoms that look like coconut pyramids held out as if on the palm of a hand.And chestnut leaves do look like five fingered hands!

Meanwhile the ash trees frame is still clearly visible as their leaves have barely begun to show. This is a year of the oak before the ash which according to tradition, presages only a splash of rain.

Counting on … Lent 25

8th April 2025 

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. Psalm 23:2-3a

Even though we know it is good for us, both mentally and physically, it is surprising how often we don’t make time to walk in the natural world, to sit by the water, to watch the wildlife, smell the clean air, listen to the wildlife, or to absorb the pheromones from  the trees.

The Woodlands Trust is passionate about the health benefits of trees and works to ensure that everyone has access to the benefits of trees and nature. “Embracing nature’s embrace: woods and trees do more than just clean air. Growing scientific evidence is revealing that reconnecting us to nature bolsters our physical and mental wellbeing.”

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/health-and-wellbeing/

Counting on … Lent 18

28th  March 2025 

Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarrelling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Exodus 13: 5-9

When too many people – or rather if the activities of the people are consuming too many resources – it is good to come to an amicable arrangement whereby the available resources can be shared. In the natural world some plants build this in to their growth patterns. Apple trees through their root systems and their  mycorrhizal fungi prevent new apple seedlings from growing too close less they both compete over the same nutrients. Other trees benefit from the work of magpies and squirrels which plant seeds at a fair distance away from the parent tree.

Counting on … Lent 13

21st  March 2025

“The sprit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners ….They will be called oaks of righteousness , the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.” Isaiah 61: 1 3b

Again we are reminded of God’s calling that we should care for all those in need so as to create a world that in its flourishing reveals the glory of God. And in truth it is that same glory we see when we look at great oak trees, or ancient woodlands or when we see the first green shoots appearing on a local tree – just as it is when the sick are healed, the oppressed released, the broken hearted restored and the whole world sharing in the good news of God’s spirit.

Counting on … Lent 11

19th March 2025

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

According to Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, 

“Trees are “social creatures” that communicate with each other in cooperative ways that hold lessons for humans.”

She explains “Trees are linked to neighbouring trees by an underground network of fungi that resembles the neural networks in the brain.” 

In one study, Simard watched as a Douglas fir that had been injured by insects appeared to send chemical warning signals to a ponderosa pine growing nearby. The pine tree then produced defence enzymes to protect against the insect.

“This was a breakthrough,” Simard says. The trees were sharing “information that actually is important to the health of the whole forest.” In addition to warning each other of danger, Simard says that trees have been known to share nutrients at critical times to keep each other healthy. She says the trees in a forest are often linked to each other via an older tree she calls a “mother” or “hub” tree.” (1)

Good communication and the value of interconnectedness are key to flourishing communities.

(1) https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/04/993430007/trees-talk-to-each-other-mother-tree-ecologist-hears-lessons-for-people-too

Counting on … Lent 10

18th March 2025

“If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?” Deuteronomy 20:19 

Whether it is Psalm 1 or in God’s planting of the garden of Eden, the Bible presents trees to us as the means of providing what is needful for life. It is a gift we often overlook – and as demonstrated in Deuteronomy, something we should not destroy. 

The following quote comes from the NHS Forest website.

“Trees, hedges, shrubs, meadows—they are all excellent for biodiversity and creating healthy environments, but trees in particular offer unique benefits not found in other planting options. In fact, humans need trees for health, which means the benefits of tree planting reach far beyond nice-looking grounds.” 

Do read the full article which lists the many ways in which we benefit from trees. 

Why do humans need trees for health? Here are the benefits of tree planting

Proper 5, 3rd Sunday before Lent

16th February 2025

Reflection with readings below

“Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals” In whom then or where should we place our trust?

As Christians, the answer is obvious: in God! In that wisdom of God, revealed to us in Christ Jesus, that we should love and care for other. And as part of the living planet, the answer is equally obvious, in nature. 

Nature – the world and all its flora and fauna, its natural resources and self-sustaining cyclical systems – is what God has (and is) creating. It is God’s art work, God’s gift. It is good! And it is to be trusted! The world, all its natural resources, can feed and sustain all living beings – if we humans do not misuse or abuse it.

Those who trust in God, says Jeremiah, are like a tree planted by a stream. Trees are amazing things – with roots that embrace the earth, that interconnect with the soil and communicate via mycorrhizal fungi. Through their roots they feed and sustain each other and also the soil on which they depend. 

Trees grow branches from a secure base that provide strength and support, lifting up their leaves to reach the sunlight from which they produce life-giving energy and release oxygen. Trees create and sustain that hospitable atmosphere that allows all of us creatures to live. Trees provide homes and living spaces for a multitude of other beings – flora and fauna. They create essential microclimates. They create rainfall in the right places and limit flooding. They nurture the soil and ensure the stability of the ground. 

Just imagine what the world would be like if we humans could achieve even half of that! A world where people communicate with one another – the good news and the bad which really means telling the truth. A world where people help each other, they support the ones who provide food and shelter, those who sustain life. A world where people protect each other from harm. A world where people focus on the common good, on the wellbeing of the community.

And isn’t that what Jeremiah is saying we can be like if we trust enough in God’s wisdom? Jesus is giving us the same message. When he says, “Blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled”, Jesus is not saying just wait a while and God will wave a magic wand and food will appear. No Jesus is saying when you are true to God’s way, when you live the way God desires, then by virtue of your ability to live  righteous lives you will perforce never let anyone go hungry. You will never let anyone go uncared for. You will never let anyone go uncomforted. You will share your riches: then no one will be rich and all  being poor will be blessed! 

But instead humans seem dead set on looking only after themselves. We seek only what profits us, and any riches we gain, we keep only for ourselves – stashed away so that no one else can benefit from what we have ‘earnt’. We humans eschew cooperation, and decline to go out of our way to help others unless the reward to us is even greater. We are not driven by love but by profit, and we seem unable to envisage any different sort of economy.

Last Friday I took part in two actions. One inviting the Church of England to take the lead in rewilding to address the UK’s position as one of the most nature-depleted nations. The other calling on the government to stop subsidising the burning of trees at the Drax power station.

If it is in God we trust, and if it is the natural world that God has given us that provides us with a safe, provident and beautiful, habitable home, then why are we not doing more to protect trees in particular and biodiversity more generally?

If all we do is seek riches, then maybe we will deserve the woes that Jesus foretells?

What can we do this week to align ourselves with God’s wisdom, to love and cherish all our neighbours, to love and restore biodiversity – to value the common home we share – and to pursue justice not profits, to place our trust in God?

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Thus says the Lord:

Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord. 

They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes. 

They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land. 

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;

in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.

The heart is devious above all else;
it is perverse–
who can understand it? 

I the Lord test the mind
and search the heart, 

to give to all according to their ways,
according to the fruit of their doings. 

Psalm 1 

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.

4 It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ–whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

Luke 6:17-26

Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled. 

“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh. 

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” 

“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation. 

“Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry. 

“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep. 

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

Counting on … day 169

12th September 2024

Trees benefit their environment – and this is of particular value in urban areas – by providing:

  • Shade
  • Cooling the air through the release of water vapour
  • Absorbing pollutants 
  • Absorbing carbon dioxide
  • Reducing noise pollution
  • Slowing the rate at which rain reaches the ground as the water bounces off each leaf
  • Absorbing water via their roots – both of these reduce flood risks
  • Improving soil structure, helping it absorb more water
  • Decomposing leaves provide nutrients for the soil 
  • Provide habitats for other organisms, improving biodiversity
  • Improving the mental and physical health of humans
  • As well as providing sources of food for birds, animals and insects, they can be a source of food for humans too.

For further information – 

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/benefits-of-urban-trees/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/cities-urban-trees-climate-change/

Counting on … day 168

11th September 2024

Trees are just as important in urban as in rural areas: “They have a huge impact on local wildlife, mental and physical health, and pollution levels, while making the places we live in more beautiful.” The Woodland Trust (1) 

In London there are estimated to be 8,421,000 trees (2), whilst globally urban trees whilst covering only 2% of the land, comprise  about 8% of the world’s tree diversity with 10 billion trees of more than 100 types. (3) 

Looking after – and indeed expanding – these urban forests is clearly important for biodiversity.

  1. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/urban-trees-and-woodland/

(2) Rogers, K., Sarcre, K., Goodenough, J. & Doick, K. Valuing London’s Urban Forest: Results of the London i-Tree Eco Project. (Treeconomics, London, 2015)

(3) https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/Biodiversity_infographic_final.pdf

Counting on … day 167

10th September 2024

Every year trees such as the oak, the horse chestnut and the beech, produce vast numbers of seeds  from which hardly even one will make it to become itself a mature tree. Rather their seeds will be eaten by squirrels, birds, deer  and – if they are there – pigs or wild boar. There is a balance between the food supplied and the number of creatures fed. But then once every few years, the trees produce an excessive number of seeds – a mast year. For this year only the supply of food exceeds consumers and from this crop, the next generation of trees may sprout. This fascinating understanding of supply and demand comes from Tristan Gooley’s book, How to Read a Tree, which I thoroughly recommend.