Trees A Crowd

About Trees A Crowd

Conversations with deep roots. From the Galápagos to the English hedgerow, actor and ecologist David Oakes talks with scientists, conservationists, artists and campaigners about the natural world and what it means to them. 🌳 Many episodes are recorded in the field – beside the painted dog packs of Hwange in Zimbabwe, on puffin-strewn Lundy, in the gardens of Hampton Court. Others are unrushed conversations with some of the most influential voices in conservation today. Alongside them, the 56(ish) Trees series takes Britain’s native trees one at a time. 🦡 David is Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts and a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Trees A Crowd was Highly Commended at the 2025 Independent Podcast Awards and has been Podcast of the Week in The Times and The Guardian. 🍁 Every episode, with notes and links: treesacrowd.fm (https://www.treesacrowd.fm) 🦤 Support the show (any profit goes to our guests’ charities): patreon.com/treesacrowdpod (www.patreon.com/treesacrowdpod) 🪶 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

David Oakes

Category

arts · science · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Feb 2019

Latest episode

23 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

6 of 151 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   23 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Zack Polanski: Wild Card at the Wild Summit

   David Oakes interviews Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, about his vision for a "Green Britain" and the challenges of environmental policy.

2. 

   12 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Painted Dogs of Hwange: Where the Wild Pack Runs

   Host David learns from Belinda Ncube, Adraino Sitole, and David Kuvawoga about the vital community-focused conservation efforts protecting painted dogs in Hwange National Park.

3. 

   17 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Executive Branch: Beccy Speight (RSPB), Darren Moorcroft (Woodland Trust) and Craig Bennett (The Wildlife Trusts)

   Around a table at the Woodland Trust's headquarters in Grantham, David sits down with three of the most powerful voices in British conservation: Darren Moorcroft, Chief Executive of the Woodland Trust; Craig Bennett OBE, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts; and Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB - between them, custodians of millions of members, thousands of nature reserves, and decades of hard-won environmental progress. It is, on paper, a story of success. The RSPB alone counts more members than every major UK political party combined. The Woodland Trust manages 1,200 sites, all free and open to anyone. The Wildlife Trusts have more nature reserves than McDonald's has restaurants - and if an ambitious bid for a vast estate in Northumberland succeeds, their newest will be the size of Athens. (Put that in your Veggie Burger, Ronald!) And yet the State of Nature reports - co-authored by all three organisations since 2013 - tell a grimmer story: the UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet. So if these organisations are succeeding, why is there less wildlife in Britain today than when the first report was published? What follows is a candid, wide-ranging conversation about why that gap persists - and, more importantly, what it will take to close it. The trio are frank about the limits of their power and the outsized influence of ideology on Downing Street, but also clear-eyed about what is changing: public awareness is shifting, businesses are moving beyond philanthropy, and a growing movement is starting to feel "...like a wave that can be pushed further up the beach than ever before." All three believe that tipping-point is closer than it looks. As Craig puts it: if you got rid of the economy, nature would be fine. If you got rid of nature, there would be no economy. Get that truth to land in the right places - and the next State of Nature report might finally tell a different story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Inside a recent episode

Zack Polanski: Wild Card at the Wild Summit

Published 23 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I think pretty much everyone who's listening to this was probably aware that it's to protect 30% of all green and blue spaces around the British Isles. Legal target by 2030. We're sitting here in 2026. We've got somewhere between 7% and 10% of that achieved. So somehow in the next four years, we need to protect 90% of that 30%. That's impossible, right? I don't think it's impossible. I think it's possible if we take the action to do that without being repetitive, we need to get rid of vested interest so we can actually take the action and we can move quite quickly. I think it speaks to a wider point that I'm really concerned about. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

88 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

81 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

66

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

95

Contact Trees A Crowd

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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