If you’re lost in the woods, ask a tree for directions! Author writes about the ‘extraordinary powers’ of plants
HOW TO READ A TREE by Tristan Gooley (Amazon £16, 312pp)
We all know that trees are a good thing — so good, in fact, that the UK Government has pledged to plant 30,000 hectares of them every year.
Trees provide a home for wildlife, cool our cities in summer and help reduce flooding when there’s heavy rain. They also remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen.
But if you want a deeper understanding of the wonder of trees, then Tristan Gooley is the man for you. He is such a die-hard enthusiast that when he is feeling stressed by Christmas shopping, he goes to stand next to some trees, rather than finding somewhere for a nice cup of tea like the rest of us.
New York Times–bestselling author Tristan Gooley opens our eyes to the secret language of trees—and the natural wonders they reveal all around us. Trees are keen to tell us so much. They’ll tell us about the land, the water, the people, the animals, the weather, and time. And they will tell us about their lives, the good bits and bad. Trees tell a story, but only to those who know how to read it.
Usually photographed in an Indiana Jones-style hat, he calls himself a ‘natural navigator’ and his motto is: ‘Nature is always making a map for us. Everything outdoors is a clue and a sign.’
Trees, he says, offer all sorts of pointers if you know how to read them. Want to find your way out of a dense forest? Then use them as a navigational aid.
The clues are in their height: if you’re in the centre you’ll be surrounded by towering trees like oaks, which grow slowly and produce thick trunks and high canopies. To move out of the forest, look for trees which are noticeably shorter.
These ‘pioneer’ trees such as birches, willows and alders will be found on the fringes of a forest where they act as a wind buffer. They are rapid growers but their slimmer trunks also limit their eventual height.
You can also use trees as a kind of compass. They grow towards the light so they produce more branches on their southern side. As a tree grows, it will shed many of these branches; and when a tree loses a branch, it uses resin or gum to form a seal at the junction with the trunk, creating something that looks rather like an eye.
When you see lots of ‘eyes’ on a tree trunk you have a marker showing you which way south is.
If you want to hear particularly good birdsong, head for holly, blackthorn or hawthorn that have spines; small birds make their home in these because they offer protection from larger predators.
Want to locate a river? Look out for a ribbon of pale, broadleaf trees like willows, alders and ashes, which typically grow by water.
Here’s an arboreal brain-teaser. You pass a tree and see that someone has carved their initials in the bark. If you return five years later, will those initials have grown out of reach?
Rather surprisingly, although the tree itself will have grown, the graffiti will still be at the same height. Once bark has appeared, that part of the tree will get fatter but not taller, so anything scratched in the bark will stay exactly where it was.
To estimate the age of a tree, look at its girth rather than height. As trees get older their height starts to lessen, but their trunk keeps getting fatter (rather like most of us).
As a rough guide, a healthy tree will add 2.5cm a year to its circumference, so a tree with a 2.5 metre girth is about a century old.
We tend to admire trees most when they are in full leaf, but Gooley writes that one of the most exciting times to examine a tree is early in the year.
Look closely at it then and you will see flashes of pinks, reds and browns in an apparently bare tree; these are the first signs that the buds are swelling. Buds are a marvel of nature — last year’s energy all packaged up in a bundle which is primed to go off in springtime and release all those fresh green leaves.
Gooley is the sort of man whose idea of a fun day out is tramping up and down hills looking at tree roots.
How To Read A Tree is so packed with information that it’s a book best dipped into rather than read in one go, but it will undoubtedly leave you with a deeper appreciation of trees.
Understanding them, Gooley writes, is to possess ‘extraordinary powers’. Your country walks will never be quite the same again.
Like snowflakes, no two trees are exactly the same. Every difference reveals the epic story this tree has lived—if we stop to look closely.
About the author (2023)
TRISTAN GOOLEY has led expeditions on five continents, climbed mountains in three, and is the only living person to have both flown and sailed solo across the Atlantic. His more than two decades of pioneering outdoor experience include research among tribal peoples in some of the remotest regions on Earth.
Tristan set up his natural navigation school in 2008 and is the author of award-winning and internationally bestselling books, including The Natural Navigator (2010) The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs (US) / The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs (UK 2014), How to Read Water (2016) and The Secret World of Weather (2021) and How to Read a Tree (2023), some of the world’s only books covering natural navigation.
Tristan has given talks across the world and appeared on TV and radio programmes in the UK and internationally, including The Today Programme, Night Waves, Countryfile, BBC Stargazing Live, Country Tracks, Ramblings, Open Country, Shipwrecks, The One Show, Winter on the Farm and All Roads Lead Home.
He is Vice Chairman of the independent travel company, Trailfinders.
Raynor Winn ~ ‘An important book and a pleasure to read.’
Isabella Tree ~ ‘Tristan Gooley has done trees the greatest service. In this gentle, enchanting book he leads us into their language – how to spot their natural tendencies and individual foibles, recognise their responses to stress and ingenious strategies to survive. And with these insights he arouses an even deeper affection and concern for trees – our friends and allies, with whose fate our own is inextricably bound.’
Wanderlust ~ ‘This book will add a new dimension to your countryside stroll.’
Peter Gibbs, Chair BBC Gardeners’ Question Time ~ ‘It was a lightbulb moment! I thought I knew my local woods – I walk there almost every day. But it’s a thrill to see it through fresh eyes, to develop a much deeper understanding.’
Peter Thomas, Emeritus Reader in Plant Ecology at Keele University, author of Trees ~ ‘Wherever you are – city or wilderness – if you want to understand the secrets of trees you pass, this is the book to read…Tristan has the rare gift of explaining the most complex ideas with humour and deep insight.’
John Lewis-Stempel ~ ‘You will never look at a tree in the same way again after reading this mesmerising book. Gooley drops learning as lighty as blossom falls in spring.’
Plant a Tree ~ the future forest company
Q&A: How To Read A Tree with Tristan Gooley, 5 April 2023 by Amy Richardson
Q. Can you tell us how the idea for your new book How to Read a Tree came about?
Trees have appeared in all my books so far and proved some of the most popular sections. In my earlier books, I kept the focus fairly narrow: how can trees help us navigate – how can they make a compass or a map for us. But over the years I have collected hundreds of other signs and this book was a chance to celebrate and share those clues.
Q. What do you hope people will learn from the book?
There are so many individual gems that I hope readers will have fun with – how to sense water through the veins of a leaf, as just one example – but my overriding hope is that readers see a whole new world. Trees go from background to fascinating foreground as soon as we appreciate that every small pattern, from roots to leaves, has meaning.
Q. You’re a very experienced naturalist, did you have to conduct new research for this book, and did you learn anything you didn’t know beforehand?
I only appreciated a few years ago that the word ‘author’ has the same roots as the word, ‘authority’ – obvious in hindsight, I know, but so are so many things!
I was commissioned to write this book thanks to a bank of knowledge built over decades, but one of the joys for me in writing any new book is the sense of philosophical exploration. I view each book I write is an invitation to take a strong level of knowledge up to whole new level. A few years ago, I thought I understood the science behind the different tree shapes we see. I really do now, and readers will do too. No two trees look alike and there is a good reason for every single difference we see.
Q. Do you believe it is important for people to connect with trees, and why?
I believe everybody knows, even if it is buried, that trees are vital to our planet and to humanity. But there is a difference between knowing that as a vague concept and feeling a true connection with trees. I think the easiest, fastest and most enjoyable way to build that connection is to understand the things we see. If every colour, texture and shape we see in every part of a tree has meaning, we find ourselves noticing more and this leads to a connection.
Q. What do you perceive to be the biggest threat to trees currently?
Like most people, I’m concerned by the economic pressures in some parts of the world to deforest, notably South America. But my one biggest fear is a pathogen that isn’t species-fussy. Just imagine ash dieback that didn’t just attack ash trees? (Actually don’t, unless you are a scientist looking for future solutions.)
Q. The UK has one of the lowest levels of woodland cover in Europe. With that in mind, what are your thoughts on what we are doing here at The Future Forest Company?
Nature is strongest when there is a rich and varied ecosystem with lots of different species coexisting in the same space. And this feeds into to my feeling about tree planting in the UK. I really like that this is a growing area and that it isn’t dominated by one public or private organisation. Diversity in this area leads to slightly different approaches and my gut tells me that will lead to a more positive result than if one organisation called all the shots. I look forward to learning more about how The Future Forest Company fits into this positive ecosystem.
Q. Can you give us a top tip from the book?
Notice how the seasons appear at different times within each tree. Spring comes earlier to low branches on tall trees than it does to the tops of those same trees. Autumn appears first high up on the southern side of tall trees.
You can find How To Read A Tree new by Tristan Gooley in bookshops– out 13th April 2023.
Help us to plant UK woodlands today. We offer a range of subscription plans and one-off gifts, you can contribute towards tree planting, conserving and restoring biodiversity on our UK sites and have a positive impact on reversing the nature crisis.
References
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-11970431/If-youre-lost-woods-ask-tree-directions.html
https://thefutureforestcompany.com/2023/04/05/qa-how-to-read-a-tree-with-tristan-gooley/
https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/tristan-gooley/how-to-read-a-tree/9781529339598/
Tree Weaver 