National Tree Week: Plant one

THIS is National Tree Week so it’s an opportunity for us to consider the place trees have in our world and if we might do more to extend and enhance the wooded areas around us, especially as so much of our modern landscape is a monoculture supporting either grass or commercial forestry.

The opportunities to mark this festival may be limited in some urban environments, but precisely because of that it is worth the effort to find a corner that might support a tree and all of the knock-on benefits that can have.

There is hardly a streetscape or a residential area that would not be enhanced by a tree, no matter how unobtrusive.

It is increasingly difficult to find areas where trees can be planted especially as a soaring world population — and the imminent end of milk quotas — means that every quarter acre of productive land is under one food crop or another.

Despite this we should make an effort to plant trees to enhance habitat for wildlife and enhance the natural beauty of the world around us.

There are few more rewarding things to do than plant a tree for yourself — and for posterity.