Forgotten Forests. Twelve Thousand Years of British and Irish Woodlands

Jonathan Mullard          
William Collins, £22.00                                          

I love trees and wood. Having read so many books about them, I find this one is unusual. It starts with an analysis of trees after the Ice Age and moves through eventually to a description of forests today with the opportunities they offer in a world of climate change, and what threatens them. 

The copy is very authoritative and drawn from the author’s extensive experience working in the natural environment. I learnt a great deal, not just on tree biology and evolution, but also on the social and industrial aspects of tree use, such as boat building and props for mining, and how we have cleared trees from the landscape to make way for agriculture, including grassland. The author also details the swing away from broadleaf such as oak to non-native coniferous forests such as Sitka spruce. For example, in Ireland forests have declined from 80 per cent to one per cent over thousands of years. Now only about 200 square kilometres of ancient broadleaved forests survive, having shrunk to a miniscule 0.2 percent of the island, with remnants of the lost forests found only in the deepest bogs. This has also resulted in a change in the fauna and flora of the countryside. The book is a very good read for professionals and for the general reader interested in history and the environment.

Professor Jim Lynch OBE FRSB

Jonathan Mullard FRSB is an author and biologist specialising in the management of protected areas, and was Britain's first senior officer for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.