About this site

My name is Martin. I trained as a surveyor, spent a few years working near plantations in the north of Portugal, and came home with a lasting interest in the trees that were being planted there faster than anyone could argue about them.

This site is a place to keep notes. It has no comments, no newsletter and no sponsors. Articles are updated when I find something that changes my mind; the date at the top of each one is the last time that happened.

The name is a small joke at my own expense. It is not proper Latin and it does not need to be.

A note on sources

I lean on the published work of research organisations rather than news coverage. Names are given at the end of each article. Where I have simplified, the simplification is mine, not theirs.