Rebecca Neale poem: 'What is a tree?'

Rebecca Neal works for West Cumbria Rivers Trust and brings her poetry into work with school children. This poem was inspired by her time among trees during a camping weekend with Green Pathways, a project Rebecca ran whilst working for Froglife in Peterborough.

“I have been thinking a lot about trees lately. As a Green Pathways activity over the weekend I organised an overnight camp. Trees played a significant role in how well this went: we hugged them in a photo treasure hunt, balanced on them as part of a team challenge, climbed them, were shaded by them, and identified them using their leaves on a nature walk. I love trees, and I wanted to write something that reflected their importance to humans collectively and individually, to remind us of why we should look after them. They obviously also have a value in their own right.”