Nature Notes April 2023

Trees are vital for many reasons. All plants provide oxygen and, as the biggest plants on the planet, trees are essential to all forms of life. They also store carbon – an important factor in these days of global warming. The canopies filter dust and pollutants from the atmosphere, they provide shelter, reduce noise, many have medicinal properties, and they help prevent flooding and soil erosion. With so many attributes, they really do deserve more attention. And they are beautiful, whether cloaked in leaves or as a skeleton in a snowy landscape.

Trees of all sorts, but particularly native species, provide a home and food for so many of our animals, particularly birds and insects. An astonishing 2,300 species of organisms have been recorded from Oak trees, but the plum tree in our back garden is visited by many animals on a daily basis, including this Chiffchaff.

A recent study by Friends of the Earth has examined how much of our landscape is covered by trees and they have found that nearly half of English neighbourhoods have less than 10% tree cover. Leicester is in the bottom third for tree cover in urban areas. Blaby (postcode LE19) has around 14% existing tree cover – about average for urban neighbourhoods. However, parts of the Journal area are faring much worse; the area around Thurlaston for example has just over 7% tree cover. The Friends of the Earth website provides a link to a map where the tree cover and opportunities for more tree planting can be seen. In this image, centred on Thurlaston, existing tree cover is shown in green.

Nature Notes April 2023

Trees are vital for many reasons. All plants provide oxygen and, as the biggest plants on the planet, trees are essential to all forms of life. They also store carbon – an important factor in these days of global warming. The canopies filter dust and pollutants from the atmosphere, they provide shelter, reduce noise, many have medicinal properties, and they help prevent flooding and soil erosion. With so many attributes, they really do deserve more attention. And they are beautiful, whether cloaked in leaves or as a skeleton in a snowy landscape.

Trees of all sorts, but particularly native species, provide a home and food for so many of our animals, particularly birds and insects. An astonishing 2,300 species of organisms have been recorded from Oak trees, but the plum tree in our back garden is visited by many animals on a daily basis, including this Chiffchaff.

A recent study by Friends of the Earth has examined how much of our landscape is covered by trees and they have found that nearly half of English neighbourhoods have less than 10% tree cover. Leicester is in the bottom third for tree cover in urban areas. Blaby (postcode LE19) has around 14% existing tree cover – about average for urban neighbourhoods. However, parts of the Journal area are faring much worse; the area around Thurlaston for example has just over 7% tree cover. The Friends of the Earth website provides a link to a map where the tree cover and opportunities for more tree planting can be seen. In this image, centred on Thurlaston, existing tree cover is shown in green.