Bel's Wood

....and still feel myself falling in love with my 8 hectares of South Lakeland. It is hard to hold the whole year in my head at once. There was the ‘is this really mine?’ phase and just hanging around up there. Then showing people around and trying not to get lost. Naming areas and trees which helped me take ownership. Then putting up my first camera trap and seeing what was happening there when I was and wasn’t there. I have visited 2-3 times a week and find myself able to lose time up there is a way I don't in my other life. Having fires is a treat and watching wildlife, listening to owls, deer and badgers going about their business. Sleeping there is a particular immersive experience where I still feel like a visitor watching the day and night unfold. I decided to just get to know the land for a year and not set any expectation of doing anything. That all changed when a friendly neighbour, Andy Brown from Sherpherd Aerial https://www.shepherdaerial.com  offered to take an aer

Over the last couple of months I have been focussing on my planting plan. However I have continued to capture wildlife footage from camera traps and have taken photos of the changing season. This is a compilation from November and early December. Looking across the Lyth Vally on the first day with snow on the fells this season Autumn gold Moon and Jupiter      Mouse Female pheasants Male pheasant  The beck in the snow Redwing feeding in a group                              Redwing Red legged partridges                         Squirrel Three female Roe Deer                                                                                               Close up on a deer grazing Badger not happy with this camera position which is a shame as it was pointed directly at a tree that came down in Storm Arwen but sadly I just got some shots of moving leaves!                                                                                                                                  Badger ins

Choosing over 4,000 trees has been an exciting task and responsibility. In part 1 I went through the trees that are already found in Bel’s Wood. In this blog (part 2) I shall go through the species I have chosen to add to the site. I have chosen natives including some called naturalised natives ie they have been living in Cumbria for so long they can count as natives eg horse chestnut trees were introduced to Great Britain by the Romans! Natives Aspen This is a tree native to the UK and Cumbria but these days is associated with north America more than the UK. I learned about the value of aspen when I visited Carrifran in Moffat, a rewilding project started over 20 years ago. Their aspen are fine looking trees and give great autumn colour. They grow to 20m over time. The leaves flutter in the slightest breeze and they deserve support to become reestablished.  Since choosing to plant these I have come across the BOOM project at the University of Cumbria (short for Back On Our Map h