Introducing Splendid Trees

Who the fig am I?

Introductions are odd. More often than not, they can be a little bland and uninspiring. At work, I sometimes mix it up and mention something to do with baking or regretting my career choice, just to see how people react. It’s a good question, though: who the fig am I?

I am someone who loves trees and beautiful wood. I find myself a semi-frustrated academic, perpetually debating what is genuinely meaningful and what is just commonly perceived as the right and logical thing to do from the perspective of an academic career.

I am an amateur brewer and baker, and a maker of things from random pieces of wood. I wish to revel in the small things, but still have the itch to travel – to visit new lands and learn languages with wonderful words and phrases. I am obsessed with dogs. They rank only fractionally below my two daughters (both named after trees) and above my wife.

I have garnered a modest reputation as an Elm Guy, due to a few projects and ongoing work involving the research, management and restoration of wych elm, and the study of Dutch elm disease. Specifically, I focus on wych elm (Ulmus glabra), the one true native UK elm species.

I am on the cusp of self-publishing a children’s book called “The Elm Hunters” as a way of communicating my current research, with the hope of introducing children to the world of elm and the splendid trees that grow all around us, often going unnoticed. I hope to write more children’s books about trees, forestry and the magnificence of our natural world – it gives us so much, as well as endless discoveries.

Here, I intend to offer up random thoughts and images of trees, forests, wood – maybe even an occasional song about trees (apparently, though I have no natural rhythm, I do have a passable baritone). At some point in the future, I plan on scheduling some Tree Trips, visiting and writing about important, bizarre and rare species of trees and forests. For now, though, I will start closer to home - the Scottish Highlands, wedged within a haunted nook.