Actually, how ‘many’ trees are found in “0.8% of NT Formby’s woodlands?”

 

I get a wee bit jittery when I see the typical authorised spin aimed at appeasing public anxieties over planned mass environmental destruction.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/liverpool-lancashire/formby/the-future-of-formby-project


Popular yet controversial discrimination against various species of tree is also a questionable concept prone to misinterpretation.

Treating some trees like gold and other like vermin may be fashionable, so let's delve into this issue a little further.

Any plant can get the hackles up of people who do not want a particular species in any given locality and especially in the more sterile, well-managed garden or largely manmade wildlife habitat.

Sycamore leaves are eaten by caterpillars of a number of moths, including the sycamore moth, plumed prominent and maple prominent, hence bats frequently feed around them. The flowers provide an excellent source of pollen and nectar for butterflies, bees and other insects, and the seeds are a valuable food source for birds and small mammals. 

Sycamore can support a high range of certain taxa, such as lichens. Additionally, the aphids that feed on sycamore provide a resource for many animals, directly as prey and indirectly through their honeydew. Its great worth within the native ecosystem is far greater than many so-called ‘experts’ imagine. 

In the right environment, sycamores may live hundreds of years and become majestic stately trees that give great beauty to the English landscape. In like fashion, the value of the birch tree for wildlife is high for most taxonomic groups. Birch woods are capable of increasing the fertility of some mineral soils This tree supports a large number of specialist and generalist phytophagous (generally those that feed on green plants) insects and a wide variety of woodland plants, birds and mammals. When mixed into conifers (like in Formby), it further increases the diversity considerably, especially for insects and wildbirds.

Of course, us arrogant humans like to think we know better than the gods, when it comes to interfering in the natural cycles of life, but things tend to be there for very good reason.

Moreover, so-called ‘scrub’ is a loose and somewhat dismissive term that covers many vital (yet officially unwanted) species of shrub, etc, which wildlife needs for survival. Scrub is also essential for creating dune stability.

Imperial swipes of the officialised pen through entire sections on a map of wild habitat may seem like a good idea to some, yet life is not always that simple.

More...

https://pat-regan.blogspot.com/2023/07/seftons-ongoing-war-against-nature.html