IN THE DAPPLED LIGHT OF THE WOODS
Deepen your relationship with trees through this immersive and sensual work
BOOK FOREST: WALKING AMONG TREES BY MATT COLLINS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROO LEWIS, PAVILION BOOKS, £25 (HB)
This is a gently paced book to savour, by an author who takes his time to stand and stare, absorbing the sights, sounds and scents of a forest, much as the reader might if walking among trees.
In each chapter, Collins explores one tree genus with related species growing in Britain and abroad, a device that emphasises their importance to humanity beyond the parochial confines of our own shores. For example, in the chapter on juniper, a declining species here, we meet gin distillers on Islay, then park rangers in Oregon challenged with preserving 1,600-year-old western junipers while controlling the trees’ invasive tendencies on farmland.
Here, the author encounters charcoal burners harvesting hornbeam in London’s Ruislip Wood, beechwood owners in Oxfordshire introducing inner-city children to the joys of tree climbing, and a wolf conservation sanctuary among Douglas firs on the Welsh borders. Overseas, he meets black-truffle hunters among Catalonia’s oaks and explores precipitous birch forests in a national park in Saxony.
Roo Lewis’ atmospheric, beautifully composed photographs are a delight. His traditional technique – eschewing digital technology in favour of colour film, with its muted colours infused with an air of mystery – perfectly complements the text by evoking that immersive feeling of being surrounded by trees, in hazy, flickering light.
This is a thought-provoking book that will encourage readers to venture deep into a forest. Phil Gates, botanist