British Wildlife 33.5 April 2022

Editorial: A high wind in the tree-tops

The damage to woodlands caused by the Great Storm of 1987 triggered an urgent response, and uprooted and damaged trees were quickly cleared to make way for replanting. Although this approach may still be required in some circumstances, there has been a shift in the way we view disturbance caused by storms. Keith Kirby discusses the opportunities that storms provide for woodlands and how attitudes regarding woodland recovery have changed.  

Arwen, Barra, Corrie, Dudley, Eunice, Franklin, and so the list goes on. The Met Office decided to name storms in 2014 because it felt that this would make people more aware and take storms more seriously, as we certainly had to 35 years ago in the aftermath of events on the night of October 15th 1987 (Grayson 1989).

Brilliant Emerald – a rare dragonfly with a bizarre distribution
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