Sarah Chave

This weekend I had the privilege of going for a beautiful walk near Horton in South Gloucestershire. Wild garlic carpeted the woodland - a veritable sea of fragrant leaves and delicate white flowers. Their pungent scent was ever present and we were looking forward to tasting some homemade pesto later! My thoughts also turned to a talk I had recently attended - a conversation between Toppings bookseller, Mathew, and the internationally acclaimed forest ecologist Suzanne Simard . In her...

Bryn Tip , the site of the former Bryn Navigation Colliery near Neath and Port Talbot in South Wales has been selected as one of Wales's first Naturfa sites (photo courtesy of Neath Port Talbot Council). Naturfa is Welsh for 'a place for nature', and Bryn Tip has been recognised as a haven for wildlife as well as a site contributing to the creation of 'nature corridors' which support the movement of species across Wales. The shrubs which have become established in this former...

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to visit the Mekong Delta in Southern Vietnam. The Mekong River flows for 4,350-4,900 km from the Tibetan Plateau through China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. It supports transport and agriculture in the fertile Mekong Delta where the majority of Vietnam’s rice is grown. The regular flooding enriches the soil and four rice harvests a year are possible. It also an important route for trade and I saw many shipping containers is...