There’s a lot going on at the moment in the context of forestry and the wider environment. The England Tree Strategy has just been published, the Sixth Global Carbon Budget was recently announced, and the UK government is putting proposals together for COP 26. Trees play a starring role in all of these forums.

But “Tree Planting” in and of itself is not a solution to our problems. The creation of rich woodland can contribute to sequestering C02 and restoring biodiversity levels, but that has to be the product of strategy, planning and ongoing maintenance. How do we make sure we improve the quality of woodland creation?

Often professional foresters are sidelined in these discussions, so it was a great pleasure to talk with Graham Taylor, who was awarded an MBE for services to forestry in 2017. We met at the Bathurst Estate, to discuss sustainable forestry and the need to nurture trees.

The number of tall, straight trees on the estate was astonishing, and the result of many centuries of skilled management. Graham told me that “fundamentally, the estate has been carrying out good forestry practice for multiple generations.”

I ask everyone who takes part in the series what their one policy suggestion would be, and Graham called for some serious investment into solving the grey squirrel problem. There have been a few comments about squirrels already so it will be interesting to see what feedback we get this time. Part 9 of Wood for the Trees is out tomorrow.

The series now has over 15,000 views on our YouTube channel, Wood For the Trees and hundreds of followers on Facebook

Watch the series so far: