Broadleaf summer issue: a tale of two transformations

Summer is a glorious time to explore the great outdoors. It’s all so vivid: deep green leaves, bright blue skies, red campion and dog rose rioting along the hedgerows, giddy snatches of honeysuckle and meadowsweet.

Best of all, our latest issue of Broadleaf is hot off the press – and this time, we’ve launched a digital version of the magazine too, complete with interactive elements and immersive sights and sounds from the woods.  

A new people-powered forest? Look North! 

Seven years ago, the Trust joined forces with four community forests to hatch our boldest vision yet: a new £500 million Northern Forest, greening a massive swathe of England’s landscape from Liverpool to Hull. In summer’s Big Read slot, discover:  

• how the partnership planted 13 million trees since 2018, on our own estate and with a huge range of landowners including farmers, schools and national parks 
• why our long-term plan to plant a total of 50 million trees in 25 years is already bringing a boost to local economies, from jobs for young people to cleaner cities 
• the communities coming together to make a difference, from interfaith planting parties to the restoration of well-used heritage orchards close to people’s homes. 

The flooded wood: why wetter is better 

For centuries, the UK’s land has been drained to make it more productive, resulting in deeply channelled rivers and streams. As we face more extreme weather from deluges to drought, this approach makes less sense. In our Nature Focus feature, read about: 

• how we stuffed a brook in Devon with woody debris and built a clay dam to redirect the entire waterway, flooding three hectares of young woodland 
• why wet woodland like this is so important for wildlife, including otters, trout, birds and invertebrates. Even dry-land mammals such as dormice benefit!  
• the Scottish bayou attracting beavers, the ancient Lincolnshire wood filled with bats and a newly created Essex wetland set to be a haven for water voles.  

And that’s not all… 

Our news pages are stuffed with inspiring tales from the woods. Take a stroll through them and meet the man leading the way to Tolkien’s Treebeard, the students using non-native timber to trim their university library, and the volunteers teaming up with Kew Gardens to preserve rare flowers in Surrey. Plus: 

• TV and radio polymath Jeremy Vine on his love of Hyde Park, why he stopped climbing trees, and the schooldays drama that inspired him to value nature 
• Our bespoke summer walk at Thompson Wood in Norfolk, where we’ve planted 26,000 trees and restored ancient pingo ponds for rare Northern pool frogs  
• Do you live in a tree desert? Find out by entering your postcode into our handy online tool – and if you do, discover what you can do about it (with our help). 

All this and more in the latest edition of Broadleaf, now available in print and digital, both free to members of the Woodland Trust.