I discovered … a tiny 700-year-old forest within sight of North America’s busiest highway

I realised other ancient trees could have survived, right under our noses. In France, they discovered one tree that had started growing before the Romans left

I’ll be 75 in March, and we old people often reflect on why certain things happened in our lives. This is very personal, but I was tall and skinny as a kid – I was always the one who was beaten up at school. The only refuge I had was in plants and bugs, and animals in general.

Nothing in nature ever tried to “get me” – even predators. They weren’t after me. I always felt a sympathy with critters that were under attack or vulnerable. Your personality guides your research, and this got me interested in the idea of “harshness” in environments.