Found old ranger examining sturdy tree on western edge of wood (6)
I believe the answer is:
forest
'wood' is the definition.
(I know that wood can be written as forest)
'found old ranger examining sturdy tree on western edge' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'on' could be 're' (regarding) and 're' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for forest that I've seen before include "Large, densely-wooded area" , "green area" , "See 15" , "Best Actor Oscar winner 2006, for 'The Last King of Scotland'" , "Sherwood or Pine, say" .)