For more than two decades, from 1942 to 1965, the ecologist Charles Elton paid many visits to Wytham Woods. His diaries from that time are now providing fascinating new insights into the ecology and management of this well-known forest.
Wytham Woods, near Oxford, were left to the University of Oxford in 1942 by Colonel Raymond ffennell, and are one of the most studied forests in the world. Yet, during preparations for a book about this research, we found that little had been published on the early decades of University ownership (Savill et al. 2010).