So there you have it, proof commercial forestry isn't the evil some might tell you it is.
The problem isn't what we plant it's how we manage it. Push it solely into upland areas you're limited in what you can plant. Allow timber to be planted in lowland areas, look what you get ⬆️
#positiveforestry

Unfortunately it's not all good news. This coppice sweet chestnut just around the corner has been absolutely ruined by squirrels. Its not even worth firewood and is of limited ecological value.
Squirrels are a management problem on a national scale.

The photo on the left is a native broadleaf crop, beech. Note the complete lack of understory or flora/fauna. If this was conifer you would be told this is a deadzone.
However, its nothing a well thought out thin won't cure.

Photo in the middle is a mature crop of hemlock. Really really nice and been very well looked after. A good example of a slightly different conifer species being used to great effect.
Note understory. Again.
No deadzone. Again.

Photo on the left is a larch plantation about 30-35 years old, been thinned, can't see the bottom 10ft because of all the mixed understory. Hardly a dead zone.

So there you have it. Forestry well managed can be all things to all men.
For me this photo encapsulates what lowland forestry can be if we want it. TBH this will require a change in the current direction of travel, a return to traditional, tested methods of silviculture.

And finally, right at the back you can just make out the top of a conifer plantation in the distance.
Take my word for it, it's top quality timber. Not due to come out quite yet I think so a few more years of sucking up carbon for that coupe.

In the background is a beech plantation. This was planted as a timber crop probably 100 years ago and is marked for a light thin. Thinning gives room for the trees left to grow with good form and will allow more light to the forest floor. The felled trees will go to firewood.

Moving to the right, the douglas plantation continues only this is a larger area and fenced. The fence has reduced deer browsing so even though DF was planted, many other species have colonised the coupe; hemlock and birch mainly. In an ideal world this will be respaced.

Starting in the foreground on the left there's douglas fir planted roughly 4-5 years ago. Straight rows, well weeded its between 5-8ft tall now and will become fencing materials in the medium term and eventually timber for building, replacing high carbon materials like concrete

We (FCA now) have been working to get TTH more widely used and are making some headway. FE and FLS are using it on DP and NRW aren't far away. Hopefully it'll be adopted at scale.

Agreed and the demand for “white” timber whenever possible.

The other big challenge in terms of diversification of both species & silviculture, is that the Govt (due to lobbying from the Agri sector) regulates where we can grow timber, and it is usually on poor soils and often upland areas.

Oh and another correction @forestryjournal.bsky.social - contractors do not sell timber to sawmills, management companies do. When the timber is roadside a contractors job is done and their should be paid accordingly.

Also, small correction. I didnt say northern Scotland, I said the north and Scotland meaning all of Scotland and the north of England (Forest accent I guess). These are the areas worst hit but the problem is nationwide.

We are in a Nature AND Climate emergency, Rothbury would be a great opportunity to demonstrate a more resilient future for our uplands, and show how we can combine timber production AND regenerative farming AND nature conservation.

Mmm let's think about this.. @woodlandtrust and LINK have a huge PR budget (part of their business plan) and when it suits them the WT sit in the forestry sector... cuckoo, cuckoo. Other land uses dominate by virtue of scale... what do you expect?