Broadleaf summer issue: here comes the sun

Summertime… and the woodlands are breezy, bright and bursting with colour.

This issue, we tend veteran trees in the Midlands, hunt for pine martens in Scotland and unfurl the extraordinary tale of the familiar foxglove.

Saving Sherwood's ancients

Sherwood Forest is well known for its spectacular collection of ancient and veteran trees, and our landscape-scale project there will take the mapping and care of them to the next level. This issue, learn about:

• our specialist ‘treescape’ zone, which stretches north from Nottingham past Worksop and the Dukeries. Taking in ancestral estates, farmland and the famed Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, it’s home to some of Europe’s finest old trees
• our ambitious plan to map every ancient and veteran tree across the zone’s 534 square kilometres. We’ll work with landowners to create a tailored care plan for each one: propping up ailing limbs or re-routing footpaths so roots can breathe
• how cutting-edge science is helping us revive the Major Oak, and the pioneering techniques we’re using to ‘veteranise’ younger trees to create vital nooks and crannies for important woodland wildlife.

Foxgloves: friend or foe?

They’re a familiar summer sight: pops of vibrant purple spiking along the woodland edge, bees bustling in and out of striking bell-shaped blooms. But did you know:

• foxgloves contain chemicals that strengthen heart contractions, and in the 1780s Shropshire doctor William Withering discovered they could save lives
• in the 14th century they were known as ‘dead men’s bells’ – in uneducated hands those same flowers, leaves and roots have the power to kill
• many woodland wildflowers have similar properties, including the aptly named deadly nightshade and the pretty, pink herb-robert, said to cure a host of ills.

And there’s more!

There’s rescued rainforest, buried tree tubes and a freshly formed ladies’ caber-tossing team in our all-new summer issue. Open up to discover:

• gorgeous Glen Devon, where pine martens frolic, red squirrels dart and ospreys return from fishing expeditions in nearby Glen Quey
• the sumptuous slice of rare rainforest in Devon’s Dart Gorge, now safely on the road back to health thanks to the generosity of our members and supporters
• how children’s author Michael Morpurgo finds poignancy in the turn of each season, and his confidence that the next generation will change the world for the better.

All this and more in the latest edition of Broadleaf, free to members of the Woodland Trust.

Broadleaf is our magazine exclusive to Trust members. Its inspirational writing and stunning photography tell the inside story of how we, our members, volunteers and partners stand up for trees. To receive your regular copy, become a member now.