Emergency medicine / nature / wellbeing in nature / gardening / swifts and swift boxes / tree planting  Emergency doctor and nature lover Beanie Merson is more than an inspiration! This episode is about how anyone can pick up the nature bug and start with small scale projects that help transform an area.  Beanie came into practicing medicine during covid - she was one of a generation of doctors who came out into the world at a time of massive stress and when we needed them like rarely before. We met Beanie when she stared talking to people in her village about conservation... then got some folks on board to plant trees in their edges.... then went on to create a swift project locally.. and now campaigns for swift protection and gets her husband to make swift boxes.

Arable Farming / Grants / Agri-envirnoment / Minimum Tillage  In this episode of Tree Amble we headed off to Norfolk to meet Gavin Lane to talk about his efforts to change farming practices on the two holdings he manages. We talk about reducing tillage and the the use of agri-environment grants as a route to fund changes in approach, Pete admits to being a bit out of his depth on this one - not knowing the ins and outs of the arable sectors as well as others, but we hope its an interesting listen!

Lake District / Farming / Food production / Food Supply / Rural Jobs  Tree Amble went to meet the team at Lake District farmers for a chat about their role in bridging the gap between quality meat production in Cumbria's Lake District and markets for that meat further south. The company was set up to create a value chain which brought back more income to the upland farmers of Cumbria and which created a sustainable quality meat supply.  As Pete is a vegetarian - and has been for over 3 decades - this might be a difficult place to go for a conversation. But the aim of the podcast is to talk about good land management and how we get there using all the tools we have and maintaining rural livelihoods and cultures. Animals are now and will always be par of this landscape - it is how we manage and value them which is key. Have a listen and enjoy!

River Restoration / Natural Flood Management / Biodiversity / Salmon / Ponds / Water  Danny Teasdale is one of those characters who pops up in a a generation for whom a pathway was not built for them but somehow the life before leads to the life after... as a mechanic and very capable machinery man he spent his youth chasing after salmon in streams and rivers around Ullswater in the Lake District of northern England. I have worked with Danny on many small projects over about 12 years but after major flooding in the Lakes in 2019 he managed to bring his love of rivers and streams and his ability with machines into a small business doing river restoration, pond building and habitat restoration around water -Ullswater Catchment Management CIC was born! Amazingly even in Cumbria over 75% of our water courses have been changed by people - deepened, dredged and straightened - losing much of the naturalness which supports insect and fish populations. In this episode Danny and I tale a walk along a beck (the name for a small stream in Cumbria) where he has worked with landowners to restore natural features ...... and we find spawning salmon!

Organic Vegetables / Mental Health / Wellbeing / Tree Planting / Pond Creation / Flower Growing / Community We spent a lovely morning with Abby and some of the local community who come together, when they want to, to grow veg and cut flowers on this amazing small plot of land in North Yorkshire. I met Abby a few years back when she had just started the project by buying a bit of land from a neighbour and inviting local folks to help plant trees and a hedge. Since then this project has grown into Holme Grown Eastby which now, in the summer, supplies veg boxes to 2 villages along with lovely cut flowers - producing food and importantly bringing isolated local people together to work as a team - its a brilliant wee project!

Ancient Woodland / Cumbria / Rainforest / Farmer / Conservation  I met Jamie Chaplin Brice on a very wild wet woolly day in January and we went for a wander in one of our local ancient woods. Jamie is a lover of woods and woodlands and is a very capable maker of beautiful furniture. He is also a farmer. So, Jamie bridges the gap between farmer and woodsman. We talk here about the things we see on our woodland walk.  Ancient woodland in the UK is now a rare habitat as people through development and agriculture have eroded what was once a very significant woodland cover. In some areas with the right climate and rainfall we can also say that this ancient woodland is rainforest - and our temperate rainforests are just as important as others around the world.

Sheep Farming / Tree Planting / Upland farming / Water / Nature / Tree Planting  If you know the Lakes and perhaps have walked in the fells north of Ambleside you will likely have past Chris at some point or more likely his sheep and cows. His tenanted farm must be in one of the most iconic locations we have - tucked in as it is below Fairfield. But it was once much more tree'd so we have been working with Chris now for over a decade trying to see how we can integrate trees into his farming system - notably via a higher level stewardship scheme. When first met Chris we probably had one of those standard adviser / land manager slightly stilted relationships. But as time has gone on we have become friends and the occasions we can share a cuppa around the kitchen table are always fun and stimulating. The farm is about to launch into its next scheme and trees are again a very significant part of the deal... as is good grazing management.

Farming / Rewilding / Native Breen Cattle / Climate: Chris, Helen and the family agreed several years ago that they were increasingly concerned about the state of nature and that, with some money they had at hand, they would buy some land in North Yorkshire for a tree planting project. I met Chris and Helen around this time more or less when they had acquired their first site. We talked about possible outcomes and went on to create a woodland with wildflowers much like Alwyn did [see one of earlier episodes - Alwyn's Forest of Flowers].  Since then they have acquired more land and started a farming and wildlife operation and employing a small team under the banner "Make it Wild". This interview is with Chris at a gorgeous site which links a low input farming system with ancient woodland and scrub restoration.

Oxford REAL Farming Conference has become one of the most exciting, warm and creative events in the calendar. Set, as you would imagine, in Oxford the event brings together people from all walks of life but who share a passion for changing our farming and food systems to include people at all levels but also nature in all its glory. In January 2024 1800 paying delegates went to Oxford REAL - this REAL has become a big DEAL! Tree Amble went along with a mic and a bag of questions. We interviewed many people and this episode brings together many of those voices into one space to give you an idea of the variety of people, thoughts and activities on offer.  IF you can ... book in for 2025!

Oxford REAL Farming Conference has become one of the most exciting, warm and creative events in the calendar. Set, as you would imagine, in Oxford the event brings together people form all walks of life but who share a passion for changing our farming and food systems to include people at all levels but also nature in all its glory.  In January 2024 1800 paying attendees went to Oxford REAL - this REAL has become a big DEAL! Tree Amble interviewed two of the founders - Ruth West and Colin Tudge - to hear about the inspiration and the early days of ORFC.

Scotland / Crofting / Native Breeds / Rainforest Woodland  Sam and Alasdair's croft is in a beautiful location overlooking the sea and includes land by the water. It also rises up sometimes quite steep wooded slopes to the foot of the "hill" behind. This croft has supported generations of folks from its small but productive grazing fields yet it also contains remnants of what we might now call Temperate Rainforest or even, this close to the sea, Maritime Rainforest. This zone of rainforest has moderate year round temperatures and high humidity.. it is extremely rare and every bit as valuable as tropical rainforest. Within this rainforest are also hazel woods which hit the "rare" scale in a big way. Sam and Alasdair manage their croft with animals and for nature. Alasdair is a true man of the woods and his knowledge is exceptional.

Restoration / Landscape / Ecology / Lowther / Rewilding / Beavers Tree Amble went to meet Mike in Cumbria in a patch of woodland where beavers have been released - and where they have really got to work creating ponds and pools and coppicing trees.  Mike does a lot of work with Pete from Tree Amble. Pete wanted to get a glimpse of Mike's work monitoring the response of wildlife to management changes in projects designed to bring back nature. Mike and Tamsin are a couple and both work as ecologists helping us monitor change. The evidence they provide can either give us satisfaction that we have done something well and nature is returning or that we need to do more or change an aspect management.  We spent a long time counting frogspawn in this episode!

Farming / Nature / Trees  / Native Breed Cattle:  Tree Amble went to meet Ruth at her and Wal's holding in the South Lakes towards the end of the summer. We talked about how, by grazing native cattle, planting trees and managing hedges they have brought back life to this small but characterful area of land.  Part of the conversation reflects how they each advocate for slightly different outcomes and like all good farming couples have to come to agreement about where what and when in their farming system. Ruth does a lot of work with farmers across Cumbria and, notably, works with Pasture For Life on their mentoring programme. The programme brings regenerative farmers together to provide support and to share knowledge. She also has other multiple strings to her bow and is truly one of those people who is rooted in managing land for both people and nature. Enjoy the listen!

Wild Flowers / Climate / Wellbeing / Tree Planting: One of Tree Amble's favourite projects is Forest of Flowers [FOF] - this is where we take ex arable soils in very poor condition, deep plough them, broadcast wildflower seed and then plant trees. The idea came from Denmark and their forestry creation work but was interpreted by the great folks at Landlife and given a new life as a way to provide suitable wildflower seed beds using the same principle - reduce surface fertility by inverting the top layers of soil potentially to 1m in depth.  We have pinned this on one stage by adding in trees to the mix.  Many people are now very and rightly concerned about ploughing and its ability to impoverish soils, release carbon, open soil up to erosion. Many more are concerned that we should not be ploughing and planting arable soils upon which we could grow food. But this approach will only ever operate on a few small sites and the monitoring we have carried out on these few sites suggest that [as a one off operation] the carbon release is rapidly compensated for by sequestration and the boost to biodiversity is off the scale. Alwyn's site in Yorkshire - which we visit in this episode - was restored only in 2015 and 2016 and is now one of the best butterfly sites in Yorkshire. This is creative conservation at its best!

Soil / Geology / Restoration / Lancaster University  John and I were at school together too many years ago to think about - he introduced me to Neil Young and I introduced him to Jethro Tull. I'm still a fan of both.  As kids we already had an idea of our interests - his was geography and rocks and mine was geography and trees. An inspirational teacher probably gave us license to think about both. Roll forward 40 years and John is now a professor of Soil Science at Lancaster University - we are both still mates and enjoy getting together for walks and talks.  We met on a cold early spring day in a wild valley in Cumbria and talk about old times as well as our overlapping work in difficult spaces trying, where we can, to bring people together, to mend soils and restore biodiversity.

Farming / Hedges / Trees / Organic Dairy: Tree Amble were delighted to go and meet James Robinson on his farm near Kendal for the second interview in series 2. James is an organic dairy farmer and a leading light in the Nature Friendly Farming Network. He loves the cows on his farm but he also revels in the nature which comes when you manage land organically in a system of small fields surrounded by hedges - which James lays on a rotation - and mixed grass leys and herb rich meadows between.  It was such pleasure to spend an hour chatting with James. We hope you enjoy this episode!

Episode 1 of our second series sees Pete up in the Cairngorms with Alan Crawford underneath an amazing granny pine within a very old patch of woodland. The views out from under the tree include mountains, gorgeous old woodlands and streams. It is truly beautiful. Alan talks about his mental health and wellbeing and how he finds peace and calm in old woods and with veteran trees. He is very knowledgeable about such places and his love of them comes across.

Rainforest / Scotland / Temperate / Networking / Ecology  The second of two "Tree Amble Specials" this episode saw us heading to Scotland for a meeting of partner organisations and individuals working to save Scotland's Rainforest.  Yes! Scotland has rainforest, and very special rainforest at that. The soft wet fringes of the west coast have just the tight conditions for rainforests to form with an amazing variety of mosses, lichens, bugs and beasts. It is highly fragmented and threatened ... but a lifeline is emerging as local people and groups with bigger organisations like Woodland Trust Scotland and RSPB come together to think and act in a coordinated way.  Have a listen to some very special people working together to save something of immense significance for nature in Scotland. Bear in mind also that England Wales and Ireland (check out Eoghan Daltun's book - An Irish Atlantic Rainforest) also have remnants of gorgeous biodiverse rainforest.

Rewilding / Upland Farming / Native Breeds / Riggit Galloway / Pea Restoration / Slowing the Flow  In this episode Tree Amble's Pete visits Kingsdale Head, a 1500 acre / 608 ha upland farm and natural regeneration project in the Yorkshire Dales. Owners Catherine Bryan and Tim Yetman discuss the challenging landscape and their ambitious plans to restore peatbogs as well as increase biodiversity and create a mosaic of habitats using native breed cattle to stimulate natural function.  The project is focussed on extensive peatland restoration, rewetting the area so the site can store more carbon, water and ultimately support widespread natural regeneration. Kingsdale has a site manager who looks after the cattle and has become an excellent dry stone waller.  Kingsdale Head is the final episode of Series One of Tree Amble. We have a couple of specials - Carbon Calling (out now) and Saving Scotland's Rainforest (coming soon!) before we commence Series Two in October!!

Carbon / Farming / Soils / Water / Nature / Nature friendly farming  Carbon Calling is an awesome gathering of farmers in Cumbria, created and lead by farmers, talking about regenerative agriculture. 2023 was the second year of this conference hosted by Tim and Emma on their farm at Kirby Thore. About 200 folks talking positively about changing farming practice to save costs, deliver good food, manage soils, bring back nature and enjoy farming. Today's episode is a brings together many of the voices at the conference.