Profile: Dr Terry Mabbett

Dr Terry Mabbett

Contributor

Wanted to become a forester but ended up as a pest, disease and weed control specialist. Now applying knowledge and experience gained to the field of forestry. BSc (Hons) Agricultural Botany and Dip Ed University of Wales; MSc Technology of Crop Protection University of Reading; PhD Tropical Plant Pathology University of the West Indies. Extensive periods working in The West Indies, West Africa, South and South East Asia and with most tropical tree crops including: rubber, coffee, cocoa, tea, oil palm, coconut, banana, citrus, mango and avocado. Wide ranging interests within both forestry and arb. Has a mission to improve knowledge and understanding for men and women on the forest floor about insect pests and diseases, and clearly the main immediate threat to UK forestry and arb. Continues to maintain a healthy scepticism of what the establishment has to say on this subject. Rebel with a cause.

Latest articles from Dr Terry Mabbett

Winged fruits (samaras) of sycamore, modified for wind-dispersal, are instrumental in allowing the species to colonise substantial areas of ground.

Tree of the month Sycamore will be the saviour of English woodlands
While it has long been derided as a nuisance by foresters across the British Isles, circumstances are conspiring to transform sycamore’s reputation.

Forestry Commission contractors harvesting superb Norway spruce in the Surrey Hills, March 2015.

Tree pests and diseases Assessing the indications and implications of Ips typographus on Sitka spruce
What could the future hold for Sitka spruce – and, by extension, the UK’s commercial forestry landscape – now that the eight-toothed European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) has finally taken its first bite?

It was published with a promise to cause controversy in the conservative world of construction.

Book review Timber! – How Wood Can Help Save the World review: 'A highly manageable book'
How does this manifesto for the much bigger role wood and forestry could play in tackling the climate crisis stack up?

This holm oak planted some twenty years ago when this North London shopping plaza was built was appropriately and tastefully ‘pruned and sheared’ to suit the situation.

URBAN TREES Trees and concrete: An irresistible force meets a rigid object
Trees causing problems for concrete infrastructure – and vice versa – is often viewed as an unavoidable fact of life.

Clumping bamboo is safer than running bamboo, but not completely so.

Invasive species Bamboo is the new Japanese knotweed
Best think twice before planting bamboo, which is causing headaches for an increasing number of homeowners across the UK – and generating work for those who are able to tackle it.

Attempts made in Furzefield Wood to plant English oak to maintain shade into the future failed because the seedling trees were planted too close to existing mature oaks. Oak does not ‘regenerate’ under its own shade.

Tree of the month How hazel coppicing is being revived in modern-day England
Hazel coppice has fallen out of favour since its peak of production several centuries ago.

Tree of the month Looking back at some of the famous trees Britain has lost in recent years
Beloved ancient ash trees, elms, oaks and sycamores have all been brought down by one means or another in recent years.

Any beetles blown over the English Channel into south-east England would have originated from a big outbreak occurring in a mountainous area of southern Belgium where there is a lot of Norway spruce

Pests and diseases Do we finally have a definitive answer as to how Ips arrived in the UK?
The discovery of the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle in the UK has caused much concern and speculation in recent years.

Almost out for the count – small tortoiseshell once the most widespread and common butterfly in gardens has shown a slump in numbers which experts think is at least partly due to the effects of an exotic natural enemy.

Ecology The vital role arborists could play in preserving UK's butterfly population
A number of recent studies have offered an interesting glimpse into how warming temperatures are affecting the UK’s butterfly population.

Main: After English yew and English oak, sweet chestnut is the longest-lived tree in the UK. Pictured is a very old sweet chestnut situated alongside an Elizabethan mansion in Hampshire; probably not a lot of difference in their ages.

Tree of the month Are Britain's sweet chestnut in trouble? It’s a subject worthy of investigation
A recent campaign seeking help from the public to identify diseased sweet chestnut trees hints that it could be in deep trouble

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Dr Terry Mabbett

Latest articles from Dr Terry Mabbett

Tree of the month Sycamore will be the saviour of English woodlands
While it has long been derided as a nuisance by foresters across the British Isles, circumstances are conspiring to transform sycamore’s reputation.

Book review Timber! – How Wood Can Help Save the World review: 'A highly manageable book'
How does this manifesto for the much bigger role wood and forestry could play in tackling the climate crisis stack up?

URBAN TREES Trees and concrete: An irresistible force meets a rigid object
Trees causing problems for concrete infrastructure – and vice versa – is often viewed as an unavoidable fact of life.

Invasive species Bamboo is the new Japanese knotweed
Best think twice before planting bamboo, which is causing headaches for an increasing number of homeowners across the UK – and generating work for those who are able to tackle it.

Tree of the month How hazel coppicing is being revived in modern-day England
Hazel coppice has fallen out of favour since its peak of production several centuries ago.

Tree of the month Looking back at some of the famous trees Britain has lost in recent years
Beloved ancient ash trees, elms, oaks and sycamores have all been brought down by one means or another in recent years.

Pests and diseases Do we finally have a definitive answer as to how Ips arrived in the UK?
The discovery of the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle in the UK has caused much concern and speculation in recent years.

Ecology The vital role arborists could play in preserving UK's butterfly population
A number of recent studies have offered an interesting glimpse into how warming temperatures are affecting the UK’s butterfly population.

Tree of the month Are Britain's sweet chestnut in trouble? It’s a subject worthy of investigation
A recent campaign seeking help from the public to identify diseased sweet chestnut trees hints that it could be in deep trouble

Dr Terry Mabbett

Latest articles from Dr Terry Mabbett

Tree of the month Sycamore will be the saviour of English woodlands While it has long been derided as a nuisance by foresters across the British Isles, circumstances are conspiring to transform sycamore’s reputation.

Book review Timber! – How Wood Can Help Save the World review: 'A highly manageable book' How does this manifesto for the much bigger role wood and forestry could play in tackling the climate crisis stack up?

URBAN TREES Trees and concrete: An irresistible force meets a rigid object Trees causing problems for concrete infrastructure – and vice versa – is often viewed as an unavoidable fact of life.

Invasive species Bamboo is the new Japanese knotweed Best think twice before planting bamboo, which is causing headaches for an increasing number of homeowners across the UK – and generating work for those who are able to tackle it.

Tree of the month How hazel coppicing is being revived in modern-day England Hazel coppice has fallen out of favour since its peak of production several centuries ago.

Tree of the month Looking back at some of the famous trees Britain has lost in recent years Beloved ancient ash trees, elms, oaks and sycamores have all been brought down by one means or another in recent years.

Pests and diseases Do we finally have a definitive answer as to how Ips arrived in the UK? The discovery of the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle in the UK has caused much concern and speculation in recent years.

Ecology The vital role arborists could play in preserving UK's butterfly population A number of recent studies have offered an interesting glimpse into how warming temperatures are affecting the UK’s butterfly population.

Tree of the month Are Britain's sweet chestnut in trouble? It’s a subject worthy of investigation A recent campaign seeking help from the public to identify diseased sweet chestnut trees hints that it could be in deep trouble

Tree of the month Sycamore will be the saviour of English woodlands
While it has long been derided as a nuisance by foresters across the British Isles, circumstances are conspiring to transform sycamore’s reputation.

Book review Timber! – How Wood Can Help Save the World review: 'A highly manageable book'
How does this manifesto for the much bigger role wood and forestry could play in tackling the climate crisis stack up?

URBAN TREES Trees and concrete: An irresistible force meets a rigid object
Trees causing problems for concrete infrastructure – and vice versa – is often viewed as an unavoidable fact of life.

Invasive species Bamboo is the new Japanese knotweed
Best think twice before planting bamboo, which is causing headaches for an increasing number of homeowners across the UK – and generating work for those who are able to tackle it.

Tree of the month How hazel coppicing is being revived in modern-day England
Hazel coppice has fallen out of favour since its peak of production several centuries ago.

Tree of the month Looking back at some of the famous trees Britain has lost in recent years
Beloved ancient ash trees, elms, oaks and sycamores have all been brought down by one means or another in recent years.

Pests and diseases Do we finally have a definitive answer as to how Ips arrived in the UK?
The discovery of the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle in the UK has caused much concern and speculation in recent years.

Ecology The vital role arborists could play in preserving UK's butterfly population
A number of recent studies have offered an interesting glimpse into how warming temperatures are affecting the UK’s butterfly population.

Tree of the month Are Britain's sweet chestnut in trouble? It’s a subject worthy of investigation
A recent campaign seeking help from the public to identify diseased sweet chestnut trees hints that it could be in deep trouble