“Fuzzy edges are something we should encourage” - Branch Out Symposium Sussex

Sussex’s ecology contributes to the county’s rich culture and identity. And it’s amongst its woodland and forest where you’ll find the most diverse range of species and habitats. From providing shade and materials to offering a place to congregate, trees have played a huge part in English tradition. This has seen them filter into our songs, folklore paintings and iconography.  

Since ancient times, the woods have had a profound and multifaceted cultural significance, whether that’s traditional symbolism, spirituality, identity, or a sense of permanence. Trees are essential for environmental balance and even economic stability, but do we really appreciate their importance?

“They’re part of the character of Sussex,” says Dr Tony Whitbread. “You have different areas, and different woodland types in each. There are ash and beech woods on the Downs, and you get hornbeam and chestnut in the Weald, then oak and birch up on the sandstone around Ashdown Forest. There are very different characters in these three different areas.”

As the former chief executive of Sussex Wildlife Trust (and now its president) Whitbread is about to take part in a symposium exploring how we can all plant, protect and care for our trees. Coming to Shoreham on Sat 14 June, it’s the first event in the Branch Out Tree Festival. This will bring together nature lovers, ecology professionals and community members to discuss restoring biodiversity, tackling the climate crisis and reconnecting people with nature. The day of expert talks, roundtable discussions, children’s activities and book signings sees him joined by Wakehurst’s Susan Raikes and Iain Parkinson, urban explorer Paul Wood, broadcaster and award-winning garden designer, Juliet Sargeant, world traveller and Hear The Trees Speak writer, Oliva Sprinkel, and Isabel Losada, author of The Joyful Environmentalist.  

“As far as I'm concerned, the aim of this conference is to reinvigorate excitement and interest in trees, woods and forests. It links in with the long history of Sussex.”  

The symposium marks the official start of the Tree Festival 2025, which will be highlighting the extraordinary beauty and value of trees through a series of free events. Run by teams of volunteers and local groups, and supported by Connick Tree Care and Rampion Offshore Wind, it’s been organised by CPRE Sussex - a countryside charity seeking to shape a greener future by protecting, celebrating and regenerating the county’s countryside and green spaces.  

Whitbread tells me the county is the second most wooded in England after Surrey, due to the poor nature of its soil and the historical industries that depended upon the forest.

The Sussex dialect famously has around 30 words for mud, so we’re quite culturally conscious of the soil beneath our feet. Apparently the county’s most common type is comprised of an unyielding clay. “It’s either very hard or very sticky. Half of the year, it's like a marshland. For the other half, it's baked. So farming has always been difficult in Sussex.”

One irony is that woods have survived where they were managed and used. “Sussex was a centre for the iron-making industry. And woods were continually felled or coppiced for the early Industrial Revolution.” Small pieces of wood from the coppicing process were used to make charcoal – a key constituent in metal-smelting, brick manufacturing and glass-making.

“We're the second least well-wooded country in Europe.”

Traveling through the county, the sheer diversity of biomes is striking. But it’s the hidden habitats which are the most fascinating. “There are some real gems in Sussex. We have Ghyll woodlands, which are very narrow stream woods. They have a particular microclimate, which is very moist and humid. There are a lot of ferns and mosses, so much like a temperate rainforest.”He tells me around 17% of Sussex is covered in woodland, while the national average is about 12%. “However, the average on the continent is about 40%. We're the second least well-wooded country in Europe.”

Our fascination with the depths of the forest goes back to prehistory, manifesting in our stories and traditions. “Looking at some of our churchyards, you'll see very old yew trees. Just down the road in Sullington, there's a church with a 1300-year-old Yew tree. Kingley Vale near Chichester has trees which are perhaps 2000 years old. They all date back to the time when groves of evergreen trees were sacred. That's why churches were probably built on those sites.”

Despite their part in our collective heritage, there’s still more we can do to consider the value of tree. “Of course, they can carry on providing products like building materials, but these days we're seeing woodlands for all sorts of other benefits. For example, in flood control. By having a wooded catchment, water washes off much more slowly.” While trees offer numerous environmental benefits, like carbon capture, we’re starting to understand their potential around recreation and wellbeing.

“We haven't done economics very well at all. We only value things in financial terms. There were some figures produced by the Forestry Commission about five years ago, valuing the timber on their estates at about £7 billion. Yeah. That's if all you're looking at is cutting down the trees, selling them and replanting them. Then they added in the value of recreation, of carbon, flood and pollution control, amelioration, and all the other things, and the value of those woodlands increased to £22 billion. A woodland was worth far more standing than cut down.”

“I think of woodland and forests as habitats, rather than individual trees. “

While there are numerous threats to our trees and the associated habitats, such as disease and human activity, Whitbread tells me the biggest danger is posed by something fairly innocuous. “I think of woodland and forests as habitats, rather than individual trees. So, one pressure trees are under is actually a desire for tidiness. People even cut down misshapen trees and things like that. So, fuzzy edges are something we should encourage.” Another long-term problem with woodlands is a shared failure to value them. “We need to think about urban areas as well,” he points out. “Trees are valuable for pollution amelioration. They take pollutants out of the air and overcome heat island effects.”

Whitbread admits he could talk the hind leg off a donkey when it comes to trees, whether it’s the species seen in Sussex, their role in culture or how forests can be viewed as huge, natural history books. So how did he discover this enthusiasm for woodland? “I think David Attenborough gave the best answer for that. A long time ago, somebody asked him: ‘Where did you get your interest in wildlife from?’ And he responded: ‘Where did you lose yours?’ I think it's inherent in all of us, and we tend to lose it. We've always got our lives to deal with. We're worried about mortgage payments and all those sorts of pressures, and so I think we lose contact with the stuff that actually gives us life in the first place.”

The Branch Out Symposium comes to the Shoreham Centre on Sat 14 June 2025 (9.30 am - 5.30 pm). The Tree Festival takes place at venues across Sussex on Sat 14 – Sun 15 and Sat 21 – Sun 22 June 2025. View the full programme at: www.cpresussex.org.uk/tree-festival

Main image by Ryan Busuttil

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