A healthy number of members and friends gathered, shaded from the hot summer sun by canopies of beech and sycamore surrounding the Peil Wyke offices of Forestry England. Guy Corbett-Marshall introduced Gareth Browning, our host for the day. As with all professionally organised forest site visits, we first followed biosecurity protocols and were then given an overview of key health and safety. The highest risks of the day? Lymes diseases contracted from tick bites (1 – 2% of ticks found in Forestry England managed forests were reported to carry the disease). And snake bites – adders are found in the forests in this part of the world: hospitals in Carlisle and Kendal have anti-venom!
A huge range of topics were covered during the day, far too much for this article. Hence, an attempt is made here to organise the visit into themes and key learning highlights, so that those unable to attend might gain a scrap or two of the wisdom, knowledge and enthusiasm so generously shared by Gareth. Any errors are those of the author.