BBC Radio 4 - Open Country - 15 January 2005

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BBC Radio 4 - 92 to 94 FM and 198 Long Wave

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OPEN COUNTRY

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	PROGRAMME INFO

	Saturday 6.10-6.35am Repeated Thursday 1.30-2.00pm


	From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique. Email: [email protected] Postal address: Open Country, BBC Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.


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	Listen to Open Country for 15 January 2005


	PRESENTERS

	HELEN MARK and RICHARD URIDGE



	More about Helen Mark




	More about Richard Uridge


	PROGRAMME DETAILS

	Saturday 15 January 2005
Trees according to one of the guests on this week's Open Country remind us of ourselves, they have a childhood, a middle age, grow old and have a personality uniquely their own. All of us it seems like trees, as well as being useful to us, they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, trees seem to bring out the romance in our souls. After the vicious winds and gales of recent days, this week's programmes goes into the woods to celebrate the life of trees. John King is a forester, he has been a forester for 37 years and Helen Mark met him at Weston Common in Surrey. The forest at Weston is over 30 acres and contains a whole variety of species but John's favourites are the hard woods like the elm and the yew. He tells Helen about being in the forest as a storm begins and how dangerous and unpredictable working with trees can be. On its route to find the light, the tree twists and turns creating a coiled tension within it, as soon as the chain saw cuts into the tree those tensions are released and the tree can whip back and twist violently as it uncoils making its behaviour unpredictable and it's that unpredictability that can be lethal. John explains how he was hurt whilst cutting a tree that had been damaged in a storm. In his hurry to get the job done he had been too casual in his approach and it cost him dear as a shard from the tree shot through the air and pierced his leg. Forestry Commission info Dave Bangs is a naturalist and he takes us to Ashenground Wood at Heywoods Heath. Under threat from a housing development, the woods are a haven of peace and tranquillity. Dave gives Helen a small eye glass, a necessary implement to enter the "fairyland" of trees, the minute but abundant mosses and lichens, bugs and funghi that give the nutrients and life to the trees. He says the garden of flora and fauna found on a tree bark can be as complex and interesting as any garden at Kew. He takes Helen to his favourite tree - a giant oak, a frozen medusa's head of branches that snakes away into the sky. It dominates the landscape and provides a home for millions of creatures and a playground for generations of children. Jane Routh, poet and photographer, has planted over 8,000 trees in her woods near Lancaster. Jane stopped working as a lecturer at Lancaster University 14 years ago and decided to plant trees. She loves them all from the remains of the ancient elm, once used to make bobbins for the mills of Manchester, to the ash and silver birch she nurtures in her tree nursery. Jane takes Helen to her favourite spot, it has a breathtaking view over the valley and is the place where she wants to be buried, not only that but she would like a tree to be planted on top - a silver birch. If she gets her wish she would become part of the tree itself, she would be in heaven. Lancashire writers Email Open Country: [email protected] The BBC is not responsible for external web sites

	RELATED LINKS BBC Holiday Category BBC Country file