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Carrifran Wildwood was the brainchild of local people who mourned the lack of natural habitats and decided to act. When Borders Forest Trust was founded the Wildwood became the Trust’s first large land-based project, and after 20 years of work it has become an inspirational example of ecological restoration. Removal of sheep and goats and planting 700,000 trees launched the return of native woodland and moorland, transforming degraded hill land into something akin to its pristine, vibrant, carbon-absorbing state, teeming with plants, animals and fungi, alive with birdsong and the sound of the wind in the trees. The 40 contributors vividly describe all the challenges of carrying forward bold initiatives requiring close cooperation with local communities as well as funders, authorities, landowners and partners. A core part of the book is devoted to how nature asserts itself when given a chance. It includes ‘before and after’ surveys, describes vegetation changes – some of them unpredicted – following removal of sheep, cattle and feral goats; unique documentation of the dramatic changes in bird populations during the 20-year transformation of Carrifran valley from denuded land to a restored mosaic of woodland and moorland habitats; discussion of the gradual development of a diverse range of invertebrate animals; and descriptions of the rich communities of fungi and mosses, many of them newly-recorded in the area. The book concludes with discussion of the role of restoration ecology in addressing the biodiversity crisis and climate change. This is the extraordinary story of how a group of motivated people can revive nature at a landscape scale.

Tenerife is a remarkable island, dominated by Mount Teide, an active volcano higher than any mountain in mainland Spain. The island has extraordinary volcanic landscapes, and thousands of species of plants and animals that are found only there. The authors’ love of Tenerife stems from its enormous variety of habitats with their complex plant and animal communities. They have explored the island from the laurel forests of eastern Anaga to the cliffs of Los Gigantes in Teno, from the semi-deserts of the extreme south to the richly vegetated slopes along the north coast, and from remote black sand beaches to the lavas of Las Cañadas and the craters of Teide and Pico Viejo. Local Spanish experts have guided them to remote places and have contributed accounts of their own special interests. Introductory chapters discuss the extinct mammals, birds and reptiles, the island’s ecology and the impact of people. The five main types of landscape (ecosystems) are then considered; coastal and lowland shrubland; dry woodland remnants; laurel forest; pine forest and high mountain shrubland. Some special habitats are also described including the lava flows and volcanic caves, with their unique highly adapted invertebrate animals. Both vertebrates and invertebrates are treated systematically while photographs and brief descriptions of hundreds of endemic species of plants are included enabling easy identification. The island’s geology is also featured, in an account that covers both the oceanic context of the Canaries archipelago and the complex history of Tenerife itself, one of the most intriguing and most studied of all volcanoes. This comprehensive text provides a readily accessible and full account of an extraordinary island, referred to by Charles Darwin as ‘perhaps one of the most interesting places in the world’.

The majority of forest cover in the British Uplands had been lost by the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, because of felling followed by overgrazing by sheep and deer. The situation remained unchanged until a government policy of afforestation, mainly by exotic conifers, after the First World War up to the present day. This paper analyses the distribution of these predominantly coniferous plantations, and shows how they occupy specific parts of upland landscapes in different zones throughout Britain. Whilst some landscapes are dominated by these new forests, elsewhere the blocks of trees are more localised. Although these forests virtually eliminate native ground vegetation, except in rides and unplanted land, the major negative impacts are at the landscape level. For example, drainage systems are altered and ancient cultural landscape patterns are destroyed. These impacts are summarised and possible ways of amelioration are discussed. By contrast, in recent years, a series of projects have been set up to restore native forest cover, as opposed to the extensive plantations of exotic species. Accordingly, the paper then provides three examples of such initiatives designed to restore native forests to otherwise bare landscapes, as well as setting them into a policy context. Whilst such projects cover a limited proportion of the British Uplands they nevertheless restore forest to landscapes at a local level.

We describe new radiocarbon-dated evidence for the late survival of beavers from an upland site in northern England. A wood specimen with beaver gnaw marks was recovered from the bank of the Scaup Burn in Kielder Forest in Northumberland. The marks were analysed, the tree species were identified and the sample was radiocarbon dated to between 1269 and 1396. Other wood remains in the same context suggest a most likely dating between 1330 and 1390. This find represents the most recent radiocarbon-dated physical evidence of beaver yet found in Britain, by at least 400 years. In conjunction with documentary and other archaeological evidence from the period, this discovery indicates beaver were present within the Tyne River catchment up until at least the 14th century ad. In addition, this find highlights the need to investigate all possible evidence of beaver fully when discovered and to remain open-minded about the possibility of making finds in unexpected locations and contexts.