Mike has been ecologically monitoring habitat restoration sites for us for nearly a decade. He has shown to us several times over not just the value of monitoring change but also how, when you do monitor change after a habitat restoration project, nature responds rapidly.... but not always by the book! He has uncovered lots of positive changes that the textbooks say should not happen. The value of having a "Mike" in the team is enormous. This chat we had opens up some of Mike's findings and how he approaches monitoring.

The second agroforestry show is coming to Woodoaks Farm, Maple Cross in Hertfordshire on 10th and 11th of September. Here at tree Amble we really support the bringing back together of trees and farming - particularly with all the benefits for animal welfare, productivity and nature that can be gained from well planned agroforestry systems. So, we went to chat with site manager Steve Dutch at Woodoaks and also met with Rose Lewis (Steve's boss!) to talk about how Woodoaks farm came to the SA and there thinking around soils and agroforestry.

Part 2 of our conversation with Peter Livingstone at his not for profit tree nursery near Glasgow. We hear more about about the other species Peter is working on and more about his motivations, people and projects.

As a younger man Peter got involved with remediating derelict land in Scotland's central belt. His work eventually exposed him to using trees to aid restoration and before long he discovered that aspen was used all over Europe for restoration but not at home. Research and grant aid later finds him collecting and growing aspen clones for planting on remediation sites and then a journey into trees.....

Mention Phil's name in West Cumbria and many folks will know him. He has created a wonderful community of people around him through his work as a basket maker and willow weaver. Phil grows willow and makes baskets but he also shares his knowledge widely and engages in many other willow related things - including river restoration! Phil is a complete gem and is great spend time with.

Rose, Anwen and I met at a farming conference and very quickly hit it off. We were all wondering why a tree lover and two archaeologists would spend a weekend talking about mob grazing and soils. Yet it is obvious really - learning about how we manage land reflects on where we have come from and how we might restore nature to farming once more. Rose and Anwen have such life and energy for their chosen subject!

Neil and Leigh Heseltine farm in the North Yorkshire village of Malham - famous for its amazing geology and beautiful setting. Neil's journey into farming with nature, in fact farming nature, is fascinating. He has moved from farming sheep to farming cattle. He loves the landscape he has farmed all his life and it comes across in this episode.

In this episode of Tree Amble we head up to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in Central Scotland to meet Hamish Thompson the Estate Manager of the Woodland Trust's largest single site Glen Finglas. Hamish and his team are responsible for managing over 4000 ha / 10,000 acres of ancient woodland, wood pasture, peat bog and mountain. This is tree management on an epic scale and a day's walk around the tracks or up one of the Glen's hills is hardly enough to take in the scale of this landscape. Hamish's work crosses many disciplines but we meet him in a stand of ancient hazel talking about the importance of this species to ecology today and people in the past.