We heard a whisper, a hearsay / Whereas strolling by a barren land / That at some point a spot of sunshine and life will likely be / The place now a darkish wooden stands.  

So go the lyrics to a brand new single that’s making some noise about an environmental difficulty that usually goes unheard: the persistent lack of biodiversity in UK conifer plantations.  

The UK’s densely planted timber forests are darkish and eerie locations, the place wildlife struggles to thrive. The place Now A Darkish Wooden Stands – by Scottish composer Alexander Chapman Campbell and folks singer Julie Fowlis – is a rallying cry for these plantations to be reimagined in order that nature can flourish in them.  

“My music is commonly impressed by the richness and great thing about nature, however for the primary time, by this single and movie, I’ve immediately explored the connection between people and the pure world,” mentioned Chapman Campbell, who wrote the music and lyrics.  

“Many UK woodlands, particularly in Scotland, are intensely managed timber plantations. These densely planted conifers, the place gentle struggles to succeed in the woodland ground, turn out to be darkish, synthetic forests that can’t assist a broad vary of life. Huge areas of land are nonetheless being planted with these ‘darkish woods’.”  

However it doesn’t should be this fashion, he mentioned. “With many European nations demonstrating more healthy methods of manufacturing timber, and with nature struggling throughout us, now’s the time for the UK to create a brand new type of wooden – a spot of sunshine and life the place now a darkish wooden stands.”  

The lyrics, sung by Fowlis in Scottish Gaelic, bear a easy message of hope for a way plantations might be managed in future. The track is being launched on 21 March to mark the UN Worldwide Day of Forests.

5 issues that give me hope in the case of dwelling with bushes, by Alexander Chapman-Campbell

1. We’re not in need of higher concepts  

For many years various, more healthy methods of manufacturing timber have been explored. Steady Cowl Forestry (CCF), also called Near Nature Forest Administration, is now being practised extra broadly. This extra holistic method has been included and outlined within the EU Forest technique for 2030, and the UK’s Forestry Fee now has a web page celebrating the a number of advantages CCF has on individuals and wildlife. With a report by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, printed earlier this 12 months, that calls on the Scottish Authorities to “discontinue subsidies for coniferous business tree planting”, there are indicators {that a} sea change in our relationship with bushes is beneath manner.  

2. Change can occur shortly  

I just lately returned to my childhood house within the Ochil Hills in central Scotland. The land rising behind my outdated home, as soon as intensive grassland, had been newly planted with sitka spruce. The saplings lined hundreds of acres with just a few deciduous bushes seen on the margins. I observed how the environment of the place had modified; the hillside had been industrialised with an air of artificiality imposed upon it. How shortly our landscapes can change – however that is additionally one thing that offers me hope. A sitka spruce in itself is a superb tree: the problem is the best way they’re planted and felled. A change in forestry coverage may drastically remodel UK plantations inside a technology.   

3. The potential for nature restoration  

I usually take a look at a plantation of sitka spruce bushes and dream of the way it may very well be reworked. From a monoculture of densely packed bushes, the place gentle struggles to succeed in its largely lifeless and darkish understorey, and the place the range of life is critically diminished, that wooden may very well be reworked. It may very well be a forest with bushes of various ages and species, with a thriving understorey and wholesome, secure soils. It may very well be a wooden that’s not going to be cleared-felled – fully flattened as if it was a subject of wheat. Nature was by no means a consideration when the UK started intensifying its timber manufacturing early within the twentieth century, which signifies that the potential for nature restoration in these woods is immense.  

4. The divide is closing  

Many people and organisations are working to create wholesome woodlands. Bushes For Life, a pioneering charity based mostly within the Highlands of Scotland, has been demonstrating the creation of heathy, numerous woodlands for many years. The problem now’s to deliver these voices into the timber business itself and to keep away from the tendency to create two opposing varieties of woodland; one that’s intensively managed for timber, and one that’s wild, pure and numerous. There are indicators that the divide is closing; forests that present timber also can present the complexity that nature must thrive. That is notably very important in Scotland the place round three-quarters of present woodland cowl is forestry plantations.  

5. Folks care  

Folks care about plantations. Usually, somebody who lives close to a plantation, or who walks in a single, will touch upon how unnatural and unsightly they’re. We go into the woods for reference to one thing that conjures up us. A forest in its pure state is incomparable to a plantation. If we go for a stroll within the woods and don’t discover the magical depths of nature, or encounter its magnificence, then we’ve got been disadvantaged of one thing important. We need to recuperate the health and beauty of our woods, and I imagine there’s sufficient will and information to now make the transformation occur.

Photos: Hugh Carswell

The place Now A Darkish Wooden Stands is out now, accessible on all main streaming platforms