Dom Spracklen

Another successful team up of Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery and @nationaltrust.org.uk staff. 1000 trees planted at Black Hall farm in the north of the valley. Aspen, oak, birch, hazel & willow were added to a couple of existing fenced areas. @lakedistrictnpa.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social

(1/4) Our new study in @aer-ese-bes.bsky.social shows that well designed upland #woodlandcreation can avoid high #soilcarbon soils, a key aim of the #WoodlandTrust woodland creation guide principles and UKFS guidance. dx.doi.org/10.1002/2688...

A lovely article about our research on Gannets featuring interviews with #seabirders @heyjooode.bsky.social and @sue-lewis.bsky.social

#ornithology

Our Nature Seminars started up again on Friday, with a great talk on Nightshades. Watch it here if you missed it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7ri...

Here is the full term-card so you can ensure you get a seat in person (followed by a drinks reception) or online. bookwhen.com/oxfordbiodiv...

Restoring Hardknott Forest Winter 2026 Newsletter out now: peat restoration, carcass ecology, new staff start with us, extra volunteering dates, farmer points at a post.
mailchi.mp/leeds.ac.uk/...

A new Trees Action Plan for England is in the works. Here’s what I think it should focus on This is a post by Guy Shrubsole. Photo: Sticta sylvatica, a temperate rainforest lichen, taken by the author near Colliford Reservoir, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. Recently I was contacted by DEFRA, who …

Today the Government announced they will publish a new Trees Action Plan in 2026.

Here's what I think a Trees Action Plan needs to do to meet nature targets, restore rainforests and 'ghost woods', & support the natural regeneration of trees & scrub:

lostrainforestsofbritain.org/2025/11/25/a...

It's #NationalTreeWeek and yesterday we planted 800 trees along the edges of a newly rebuilt bridleway. It'll stablise the work and create a lovely mixed corridor of woodland in years to come. Oak, aspen, alder and grey willow pegs went in.
@leedsleaf.bsky.social
@forestryengland.bsky.social

📣 Check out the new FAO report on #Climate and ecosystem service benefits of forests and trees for agriculture:
🔗 www.fao.org/newsroom/det...

📄 openknowledge.fao.org/items/f72aff...

Protecting and restoring forests boosts farming and food security. New @fao.org report presented at COP30 brings together recent research including work from @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social @envleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social

Protecting and restoring forests can boost farming and food security. It isn't farming or forests but farming and forests. New report from @fao.org

If you’re at COP30 please join us to discuss what the world would be like without forests! UK pavilion Thursday 16:30 - 18:00 including food and drink after 😃

Local warming from tropical deforestation Local warming from tropical deforestation web visualisation

A new map shows how tropical deforestation causes local climate warming. Highlights the important local benefits of preserving tropical forest @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social

cemac.github.io/deforest-web...

🌍 New Toolkit Alert!
 Tropical #deforestation is heating up local climates - with serious risks for #health, agriculture, and climate resilience 🌳🌡️
🔗 cemac.github.io/deforest-web/map.html
@envleeds.bsky.social @priestleycentre.bsky.social @metoffice.gov.uk @domspracklen.bsky.social

Lovely autumn colours for our visitors from @envleeds.bsky.social seeing our nature recovery work at @hardknottforest.bsky.social and Nature Rich Miterdale delivered with our partners @forestryengland.bsky.social @nationaltrust.org.uk and funded by @heritagefunduk.bsky.social

YouTube video by TreE PlaNat Integrating natural processes into woodland creation

Another nice output from TreE_PlaNat project @uktreescapes.bsky.social: a video on integrating natural processes into woodland creation has just been released www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0N2...

Ticks are more likely to carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease in areas where Common Pheasants Phasianus colchicus are released, according to new research.

Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
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The tour continues...what a busy & chatty morning we had at West Cumbria Volunteering Fair. Jack's addition of a microscope to examine lichens was a winner. We nearly ran out of leaflets! @reachvolunteering.org.uk @cumbriacvs.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social

A group of 24 people standing in a line in a woodland smiling at the camera. All are wearing outdoor clothing. Credit TGTF

Last week we celebrated 10 Years of #TheGreatTrossachsForest National Nature Reserve with partners at #GlenFinglas. It's 20 years since the partnership began. We've achieved ✅Over 3,000 hectares of new woodland created ✅432 hectares of peatland restored ✅70% increase in black grouse lekking 1/4...

An exotic location. Did you explore the Dark Arches?

It was an honour to be at the launch of the Ingleborough NNR into the King's Series of NNRs earlier this month - check out the blog below for more on what the #WildIngleborough partnership has achieved since forming in 2021 🌳🦋🐦

More deforestation leads to a drier dry season, Amazon study finds In Brazil’s southern Amazonian region, where the notorious “arc of deforestation” has been expanding since the 1970s, forest loss is reshaping the region’s atmospheric water cycle. As the Amazon Rainf...

The Amazon forest plays a critical role in the water cycle. A new study shows recent deforestation has caused reduced dry season rainfall across the southern Amazon. New story from @mongabay.com

news.mongabay.com/2025/09/more...

Restoring Hardknott Forest Volunteer Day: 21st October, 2025 Join us on a volunteer day to help maintain & remove tree tubes, remove non-native conifers, plant trees and wildflowers and allow the natural...

As usual all our volunteer days filled up quickly, but a space has just opened up for this one. We can make another space available if anyone wants to bring a friend along. Please share.
@envleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social

www.trybooking.com/uk/FDWV

Find us, and loads of other groups advertising volunteering opportunities in Whitehaven on Thursday. @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social #whitehaven @cumbriacvs.bsky.social

Our volunteering restarts on Sunday. As well as the essential job of removing non-native trees, we've loads of wildflowers & native trees to plant. Top vol Ade has been growing aspen, birch & oak for us & we have 1000's of wildflowers from
@wildhaweswater.bsky.social @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social

A Golden Plover stands alert among the reddish-brown heather and grasses of upland peatland. Its mottled gold and black plumage blends with the landscape, a reminder that these precious habitats are home to rare and remarkable wildlife.

GOOD NEWS: the peat burning ban is being extended in the English uplands. 👏

Peatlands lock up carbon, protect water & support rare wildlife.

We hope today's announcement signals a move to end this damaging practice for good, and thank our supporters for helping make it happen.

Ingleborough National Nature Reserve to be extended The extension will offer greater protection to the rare species found in the Dales upland landscape.

Ingleborough National Nature Reserve expanded - great news for the UK's best limestone habitats and wildlife. Research and monitoring by
@universityofleeds.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Deforestation in a SE Asian tropical forest. Photo credit: Carly Reddington

🌍 Our new study in @natclimate.nature.com shows tropical #deforestation may cause ~28,000 heat-related deaths/year.
🌳🌡️💻🛰️ Using satellite data & mortality models we quantified the impact of deforestation-driven local warming on human health in the tropics.

🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🔗 rdcu.be/eEUbI

Tropical deforestation is associated with considerable heat-related mortality - Nature Climate Change The authors assess the impacts of tropical deforestation and its subsequent local warming on human heat-related mortality. They estimate that deforestation-related warming (+0.27 °C) is associated wit...

New study led by @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social tracks climate heating and human health impacts of tropical deforestation @universityofleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years, study finds Localised rises in temperature caused by land clearance cause 28,330 heat-related deaths a year, researchers find

Tropical deforestation is a major public health issue. New study led by @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social, story by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years, study finds Localised rises in temperature caused by land clearance cause 28,330 heat-related deaths a year, researchers find

Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years, study finds

#climatecrisis
Story by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...