Today I walked through the Blean, a large area of woodland that lies between Whitstable and Canterbury. In some ways this is the most scenic time of year for a walk in the woods; the bare bones of the wood are apparent but saturated with autumn colour.   

 The Blean has been described as a semi-natural woodland of ancient origins which is true of much of the remaining tree cover of the British Isles. We live in a small country and there probably isn't any true wilderness i.e. completely untouched and unchanged by human activity. The Blean is a case in point. It has clearly been shaped by uses such as coppicing, habitation, leisure etc. 

 Oliver Rackham was one of the great authorities on the subject and in his opinion there is no extant "wildwood" and probably hasn't been since the Neolithic era. In this context "ancient" is a relative term. For example a wood that can be traced back to mediaeval records may nonetheless have grown on land that was previously cleared for agriculture. Rackham does note however that ancient woods may have originally contained surviving fragments of wildwood.

 One intriguing development in the Blean is the plan for "re-wilding" sections of it. The areas shown above and below are due to be fenced off to allow bison to roam!