Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere, & Forest (LEAF) centre
@leedsleaf.bsky.social
We bring together anyone at the University of Leeds with an interest in forests, trees & green space!
A lot of people are saying we don't have enough footage of helicopters on our socials. So here's a clip from our recent heli-lift of (local, larch) fence posts. These will keep Harter Fell sheep free & allow montane scrub and wildflowers to thrive. @forestryengland.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social
A lot of people are saying we don't have enough short films about juniper on our socials. Here's one which features 1695 of them. All carefully nurtured by staff & volunteers & gradually getting ready to be released into the wild. @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryjournal.bsky.social
Looking to get outside in Leeds and enjoy some nature? Check out the new Greenery Trail @treeswithhazel.bsky.social created for #CampusReimagined at University of Leeds! leaf.leeds.ac.uk/news/a-new-g...
Did you know we're the subject of a feature-length documentary which after two years work is nearly finished? Neil Emery, the filmmaker, tells us all about it in the video below. @envleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social youtu.be/CgoDqF6t2Nw?...
I'm Asking for Your Help to Finish My First Feature Documentary
YouTube video by Lake District Films
youtu.be
Restoring nature at scale while supporting farming livelihoods is a critical challenge. Research led by Priestley member Dominick Spracklen sets out a twenty year plan to restore ecosystems in the Lake District, while securing a viable future for fell farming 👉 climate.leeds.ac.uk/news/twenty-...
Twenty-year plan to restore nature and support fell farming - Priestley Centre for Climate Futures
Work to restore heathland, meadows, woodland, peatlands and rivers in the uplands of South Cumbria has begun in earnest thanks to a new project supported by Defra’s Landscape Recovery Scheme. Work to ...
climate.leeds.ac.uk
Exciting news! We've opened a new path at the woodland we planted in 2023 🎉 As the trees grow, we're studying the way that woodland ecosystems, biochemisty, soils, acoustic environments etc. develop. Plus, more established trees means more resilience to disturbance, so more public access! 🌳💚
University of Leeds@universityofleeds.bsky.social · 4mo agoA new public footpath has opened at Gair Wood in North Leeds, connecting with two popular routes, helping visitors avoid walking alongside busy roads 🌳👣 More than 60k trees were planted there three years ago to enhance the local environment and provide a valuable resource for research and teaching.
Our research woodland has just opened a new public pathway! We're excited to open this first new path along the edge of our growing woodland, as well as adding a new sign to help visitors understand some of the research we're doing at #GairWood 🧪🌍🌳
University of Leeds@universityofleeds.bsky.social · 4mo agoA new public footpath has opened at Gair Wood in North Leeds, connecting with two popular routes, helping visitors avoid walking alongside busy roads 🌳👣 More than 60k trees were planted there three years ago to enhance the local environment and provide a valuable resource for research and teaching.
Joining up with the Meanwood Valley Trail and the Leeds Country Way, walkers on those routes can now pass through Gair Wood and enjoy the developing woodland. Read more about the project and community partnerships 👇 www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...
New public route unveiled at Gair Wood
A new public footpath has been unveiled at Gair Wood that links up with the ever-popular Meanwood Valley Trail and Leeds Country Way.
leeds.ac.uk
A new public footpath has opened at Gair Wood in North Leeds, connecting with two popular routes, helping visitors avoid walking alongside busy roads 🌳👣 More than 60k trees were planted there three years ago to enhance the local environment and provide a valuable resource for research and teaching.
🌳Free Webinar Alert!🌳 We're excited to join the Improving Access To Trees webinar next week (April 22nd) from White Rose Forest x Green Streets, where @ellesmith.bsky.social, will present recent findings and upcoming research. 🧪🌍🌐 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/white-rose...
White Rose Forest x Green Streets® webinar: Improving access to trees
Explore new research on urban tree access and help shape future 3-30-300 tree‑planting maps for Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and York.
eventbrite.co.uk
🌳Free Webinar Alert!🌳 We're excited to join the Improving Access To Trees webinar next week (April 22nd) from White Rose Forest x Green Streets, where @ellesmith.bsky.social, will present recent findings and upcoming research. 🧪🌍🌐 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/white-rose...
White Rose Forest x Green Streets® webinar: Improving access to trees
Explore new research on urban tree access and help shape future 3-30-300 tree‑planting maps for Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and York.
eventbrite.co.uk
Cockley Beck farm in the Upper Duddon has one of the best planted areas of woodland we've seen. Really good survival rate. The trees are now ready to come out of their tubes & we're happy to help. @nfudc.bsky.social @cumbriacvs.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social
Chopping down areas of tropical rainforest is causing rising temperatures linked to thousands of deaths. @domspracklen.bsky.social explains the science🌳🧪 theconversation.com/chopping-dow...
Chopping down areas of tropical rainforest is causing rising temperatures linked to thousands of deaths
A single tropical tree can create as much cooling as several air conditioners, and across forests can cool a whole region.
theconversation.com
"There's five times as many butterflies on cattle grazing sites compared with sheep grazed sites," @bcyorkshire.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Yorkshire Dales sheep and cattle swap boosts biodiversity - studies
Natural England began switching to cattle grazing at its Ingleborough site in the Dales in 2004.
bbc.co.uk
The University of Leeds and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) are currently hosting an international Workshop on forest fires, smoke and air quality in Brazil! More info here:
International workshop on forest fires, smoke and air quality in Brazil | Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere & Forest (LEAF) Centre
leaf.leeds.ac.uk
Another successful team up of Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery and @nationaltrust.org.uk staff. 1000 trees planted at Black Hall farm in the north of the valley. Aspen, oak, birch, hazel & willow were added to a couple of existing fenced areas. @lakedistrictnpa.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social
This week we're excitedly preparing for LEAF Day 2026 - our one day annual meeting for folks interested in trees and woodlands! If you're based at the Uni of Leeds, are free on Friday, and that sounds like you, then check out the programme and register at leaf.leeds.ac.uk/events/leaf-...
We're currently curating our winter newsletter, out soon. What to expect? A farmer pointing at a post, carcass ecology, new staff start, we're the topic of "Wildwood" a photographic talk. Plus volunteer dates & wildlife videos. Sign up▶️ mailchi.mp/1dd189bd3314...
This week we're excitedly preparing for LEAF Day 2026 - our one day annual meeting for folks interested in trees and woodlands! If you're based at the Uni of Leeds, are free on Friday, and that sounds like you, then check out the programme and register at leaf.leeds.ac.uk/events/leaf-...
Our research with the SECO project to understand the trajectory of the dry tropics depends on a team of wonderful people across the world, working in Peru, Brazil and beyond, in fieldwork, data management and lab analysis. Here are some of their stories: www.leeds.ac.uk/directory-re...
A new study from @ellesmith.bsky.social highlights consistently low levels of access to trees and greenspaces across English cities. Read more about it here: leaf.leeds.ac.uk/news/english... .🌐🌍🧪
"Trees: from seeds to saplings" was the theme of the last event of 2025 from the Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre. Really useful knowledge sharing. Next year's events are linked below. @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social www.cbdc.org.uk/get-involved...
- and finally, a lesson in tree translation from Dr Robin Hayward (@canopyrobin.com), of @leedsleaf.bsky.social! How do we best learn from tropical trees, to promote and manage woodland regeneration? Also featuring some scent-sational seasonal stocking fillers…! 🌲 🍊 🌴
University of Birmingham, UK, are advertising a permanant position (Assistant or Associate Professor) in *Forests under Global Change*. A wide net has been cast - ecology, physiology, modelling, remote sensing, functioning, biodiversity, management... 🌲🌱🌳🌳🦌🌳🛰️🐿️🌲🔬🌳 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPS459/a...
Excited to see the Upper Duddon Landscape Recovery project highlighted in this recent blog from @naturalengland.bsky.social. We're working together with partner organisations and local communities to bring landscape recovery benefits, plus new opportunities for nature-based learning and volunteering
Landscape Recovery and growth: building the foundations for critical nature infrastructure
By Chris Davis, Natural England’s Deputy Director for Landscape Recovery and Schemes Development At a time when the UK is facing serious environmental challenges such as climate change and loss of wil...
naturalengland.blog.gov.uk
One space left for our last volunteer day of 2025! Please share. @envleeds.bsky.social @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social www.trybooking.com/uk/FIGS
Restoring Hardknott Forest Volunteer Day: 14th Dec, 2025
Join us on a volunteer day to help maintain & remove tree tubes, remove non-native conifers, plant trees and wildflowers and allow the natural...
trybooking.com
If you've been enjoying #NationalTreeWeek as much as we have and don't want the fun to be over, we have good news! For those local to Leeds, @canopyrobin.com will be representing the team with a talk on Christmas tree communication at Quantum Sauce next tuesday! 🎄
oldwoollen.seetickets.com
It's #NationalTreeWeek and yesterday we planted 800 trees along the edges of a newly rebuilt bridleway. It'll stablise the work and create a lovely mixed corridor of woodland in years to come. Oak, aspen, alder and grey willow pegs went in. @leedsleaf.bsky.social @forestryengland.bsky.social
Looks like my scything efforts last week paid off to get a few hundred trees planted into our new hedgerow!
Leeds Ecosystem, Atmosphere, & Forest (LEAF) centre@leedsleaf.bsky.social · 8mo agoThis #NationalTreeWeek we're celebrating all the research and practical conservation and restoration work that's done across our group. For example, a massive thankyou to our regular Friends of #GairWood group for their hard work planting a new hedge at our research woodland over the weekend!
