Day before yesterday took myself to Hay Festival where I was booked to appear on the main stage with Natalie Buttriss, CEO Woodland Trust Wales and George Peterken for an hour's chat about the state of British woodlands, with Sandi Toksvig in the chair. All went well & we had about 400 in for it. The hour just flew by and I finished thinking that there were so many things I'd wanted to say, but never had the opportunity. Anyway the crowd seemed very appreciative & enjoyed chatting to a few book buyers in the shop afterwards. Sandi every bit as lovely as you'd think & kindly signed a couple of cards for one of our friend's "Bake Off" fanatical daughters. (Sandi - if for some obscure reason you ever see this - they were both completely off the scale with excitement when I sent them down in the post, so thanks again).

Anyway here we are in a press pic. they took before we got going - thanks to photographer Paul Musso for permission to feature it on the blog.

Just a quick heads up for a few upcoming appearances:

Tomorrow 11th May I'm at Burway Books in Beaumont Rd. Church Stretton (11-2), so if you live in the vicinity it would be lovely to meet you. Obviously I'll have a few of my books with me so happy to sign these for you.

28th May - 10a.m. Hay Festival on a panel chaired by Sandi Toksvig talking about British Woodland, past present and future and the challenges we face for future forests. I'll be signing books in the shop afterwards - "ASH" as well as my privately printed "Treescape".

20th June - "ASH" - an evening talk to Welwyn Garden City & Hatfield tree and wood wardens (will advise time and venue shortly)

27th June - back in Shropshire again - "ASH" at Chapel Lawn Village Hall (SY7 0BW) at 7.30

Latest addition to the tree image archive is this c1900 depiction of the Crowhurst Yew in Surrey. The image was spotted online, described as 'a large tree in a cemetery', and although it was reproduced backwards way round I knew straight away what it was.

The tree was first measured in 1630 and found to have a girth of about 9.15 metres at chest height. Evelyn mentions it in his "Sylva" of 1664, as do numerous other topographical writers and tree buffs up to the present day, with current measurement coming in around the 10 metre mark. So in a shade under 300 years the tree has only put on 85 cms of growth. Age estimations vary widely, from about 1500 through to 4000 years. Who knows?

This positive image from the original glass negative that I have acquired shows the tree with the door into its hollow interior standing open. It is said that the tree was actually hollowed out around 1820 (although I suspect this was merely a slight enlargement of an already hollow interior) and a bench placed inside that could seat 12 people (surely an exaggeration) as well as a table (please!).

I went to photograph the tree back in 2002 as part of the start of the "Heritage Trees of Britain" project.

After 30 years of living with mistletoe here in its Herefordshire heartland I spotted a first the other day - a horse chestnut in a pasture close to Ewyas Harold with several very large clumps of mistletoe. Looking online there are one or two mentions of this tree as a host, but no images. I wonder just how rare this.