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Another Spring, Another Delight

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While it is no surprise that spring is a joy, this year has felt special. After a long dark, wet winter with the ground boggy, spring has unfurled slowly. The trees are nearly all above the tree guards now so the leaves are visible looking across them and this is beginning to look like a wood. Over the last 5 years the spread of wild flowers has increased and their density intensified now the browsers are excluded. Two years ago I mapped the spread of bluebells from 2021 - 2024  https://belswood20.blogspot.com/2024/05/bluebells-thriving-at-bels-wood.html . I walked around with the sketched map I had made to update it and I can say now that they are across the whole site. Density is greatest where they have been established for longer and I hope to create a woodland that has that deep haze of blue that comes from an established bluebell wood in a couple of years time. For the first time this year I have come across Spanish Bluebells and Hybrids. I have removed these  bydigging ...
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Bel’s Wood Waking Up Spring 2026

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Spring is a special time everywhere and having spent many hours at Bel’s Wood in the cold and dark days this winter, seeing the saplings sprouting, hearing bumblebees again and the wider range of birdsong in the lengthening days is a delight. One of the species of tree that I have introduced to Bel’s Wood is the Alder. I know Alder as a large old knurly tree. Last year the saplings become well established growing straight and tall and with side branches radiating evenly. Well, spring brought new delights with colour from fruit and flowers on these 2m high trees. Alder flowers The purple/ violet and yellow colours remind me of Regency Colours and came as a complete surprise to me and has made the tree a new favourite. The Willow trees have grown well and many of the saplings planted 2 years ago have produced pussy willow. Pussy willow on saplings September 2025 one of the tallest trees at the wood modelled by my friend Lisa This is particularly pleasing as I have lost one grand o...
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