About Us

My name is David Speakman. I am an ISA certified Arborist and wilderness first aider with a passion for trees and the environment.

Growing up in Devon with Dartmoor on my doorstep, wild camping was a big part of my life. Improvising with just basic equipment and knowledge was how my friends and I used to enjoy the great outdoors. Making shelters, finding clean water and identifying wild food was an interest at an early age. My father was in the SAS and he often told me of survival techniques which he learnt while out on operations in Borneo and Malaya, where the local people see the forests and the trees as an important part of their lives and a source of food and materials. The knowledge that he taught me has stayed with me to this day.

In my twenties and thirties I travelled extensively, joining my father for a while in South Africa. I then went back-packing through Africa, travelling with the Maasai tribe for a while in Tanzania where I witnessed first hand their way of living from the land. I have also travelled around Australia learning bushcraft skills from Aboriginal trackers both in Townsville and Uluru (Ayres rock), where I was shown how to make fire with Mulga wood and wooden weapons to catch food.

As an active arborist working with trees for many years, I set up Devon Tree Bushcraft to teach others about the many uses that trees can sustainably provide within the facinating subject of bushcraft.

You can contact me at the following email address: devontree@aol.com