We have been among wonderful sights, sounds, food and drink for the past 9 days interrailing across Europe to Trieste and back, 3162km and 33hours on trains, without a hitch. There will be blogs! Eventually!! But here's out last overnighter, Dijon. So lovely I'd like to live there!

Heading across Europe by train, we just crossed the alps and have rocked up in Trieste. Eating and drinking and looking and enjoying our way across the continent! A blog will be on its way on our return

Actually done vast harm and no good at all.

Light begets life, shade throttles it.

And rough grassland, scrub, woodland edges and clearings can be more valuable, dependent on the species in the area. Not everything needs canopy.

Couldn't agree more. I like trees, but wetland wins every time.

And three, tree planting is good for biodiversity. Only sometimes. Light begets life, and trees that are planted, or allowed to grow, on existing high biodiversity sites just kill that essential, rich grassland, heathland or wetland flora and fauna. So be careful what you wish for.

Second, that tree planting soaks up carbon. Yes, only above ground, and only temporarily, until the tree dies. C storage in the ground, through the roots of grassland, or in wetland has much more potential to be long term.

The myth that tree planting is just great: first, the p word. In most parts of the country , trees will plant themselves if left alone. And trees planted by nature are much more likely to survive.

Bl@@dy hymns! I’m so glad you keep speaking up about this, I agree entirely with your stance

Ivy is a really good source of diptera, including hoverflies, and bees at this time of year Besides Honey bees today there were lots of Ivy bees along with Calliphora vomitoria, Myathropa flora, Eristalis tenax etc

Ah, thanks Chris!

Not a wasp or a hornet, but a hornet-mimicking hoverfly! Volucella zonaria is the largest hoverfly species in the UK, first spotted in southern England in the 1930s and gradually expanding its range northwards.