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A Big Year for Bel’s Wood 2025

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Every year feels like a big year at Bel’s Wood! Year 0 2020 - Find and Buy the land Year 1 2021 - Develop a plan to create a woodland Year 2 2022 - Prepare the land and apply for the woodland creation grant Year 3 2023 - Buy and plant the trees Year 4 2024 - Lay mulch mats and control bracken around the 4,294 saplings Year 5 2025 - Watch them grow! As spring arrives I am looking to see how well the trees that were planted last year have established themselves. I will have lost some just through the process of planting and others through the conditions last year. I was lucky with plenty of rain with no periods of drought but by September, the amount of rain we had had, was causing a problem. Those saplings that had not grown beyond the top off the tree guards were going mouldy! I took those guards off where I spotted this happening but some will have perished.  Some saplings were shaded out by the bracken despite the huge effort put in last year to get round them all in time ...
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National Tree Week 2024

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For National Tree Week 2024 I have been celebrating different trees and their contribution to our world. Here are the stories I have collected. Celebrating the Hazel Tree The Hazel tree has contributed to human existence through providing coppiced wood (for bean poles. fences etc) for thousands of year. It regenerates quickly and is known to ‘spring back’ hence many coppiced woodlands are often called Spring Wood. Their yellow leaves have been adorning the roadsides in autumn and have now fallen.    This is an old Hazel that shows signs of having been coppiced in the past and is now growing and maturing with a wider trunk and a wonderful crown creating a broad canopy shading out bracken but allowing other plants to grow. It pushes out its catkins in autumn ready for spring. Hazel is in the top 10 trees to plant for birds and wildlife and is associated with dormice which are now extremely rare. Hazel nuts provide excellent food which can be stored over winter. Autumn Colour ...
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