Country diary: fungi like ripe peach flesh magnifies the veteran oaks

Moccas Park, Herefordshire: One of Britain's finest woods illustrates that nature cannot be easily measured by net gain

I'm wary of the way that the new government formula of net gain is being bandied to justify all manner of pet projects. It's intended to ensure developers leave more nature than they subtract, but the value of landscape isn't easily measured in simple metrics. Oliver Rackham best illustrated the point when he suggested that 10,000 century-old oaks were not equal to one 500-year-old tree.

By this equation, Moccas Park would be worth a good portion of the rest of this county because it is full of veteran trees. It is one of Britain's oldest, finest wood pastures and the moment you step through the gates you're aware of the element that invariably determines real value in nature - time.