Woodland

Number sixteen, Terebra maculata, marlinspike, Linn, Sandwich Islands.

Number seventeen, Murex regius, red murex, Wood, Panama.

Number eighteen, Oliva porphyria, tent shell, Linn, Panama.

Number nineteen, Murex bicolor, pink murex, Val, Mexico.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Christine Lehman, Reseda, California.

The Edge of the Wood.

Ella F. Mosby.

So trees have been on the de- decline.

Woodlands were on the decline for such a long time.

It hit a real low, like a 5% woodland cover, um, across England.

Horrendous in the early 1900s because, uh, we used a lot of timber because of the wars.

Why might an axe and a chainsaw be the best tools for reviving our woodlands? To help us untangle our roots with the forest, we invited National Trust Woodlands Advisor and author of the new book, Ancient, Luke Barley.

He breaks down how humans are fundamentally a woodland species, working with the forests and not just alongside them, and how 6,000 years of tradition in woodland management helped keep nature dynamic, especially since we lost the mammoths and other megafauna that used to do the pruning.

He argues that it's the dark, untouched canopies that we cherish today that may actually be holding nature back.