Big changes are taking place (additional footage)

With access sorted and the pheasant shooting season having come to an end, the gorse clearance has started. About 2 hectares of gorse are being pulled up by their roots and flayed to mulch which will add nutrients to the land. This creates space to plant the new trees. The contractor was chosen months ago following a site visit last summer on a hot sultry day. The plan had been ‘start February’ and they started on 1st February 2022. Two pieces of heavy machinery have worked systematically from north to south pulling the gorse up by the roots, making a pile on a clear piece of ground then a second machine has flayed it down to small pieces of wood and twigs. 









I chose this contractor (Tree Clear) as they understood what I wanted. This isn’t a brutal clearance of everything but removal of a some of the large, old leggy patches of dense gorse where nothing much happens. They have done an excellent job of working delicately around young oaks, hawthorns, silver birch, holly bushes and even broom which have established themselves on occasions amongst the gorse.


A young oak tree hidden on this bank.

Mostly hawthorns here but the is an elegant silver birch top right

It looks brutal and I know it has created a shock to the wildlife on site. Having chosen this path of planting new trees, it was required, and as I walk around the site I can see my plans so much more clearly ie where the new saplings will go.








Additional shots of the gorse masher - it's like a giant hand held food processor. Even standing this far away I was feeling the bits of branch and trunk winging passed my ears so didn't get great shots! However I have lived to tell the tale!
















Today I saw 2 buzzards and one kestrel hunting low over the ground - I assume their hunting is easier just now.


I have kept many areas untouched as there are mature trees established already.









As spring comes and greenery returns the scars will fade. Then the bracken will return - the next headache! I need to get two bashes away this summer to try and weaken the plants before the saplings are planted next January.



Just before the contractor arrived I walked through some of the most dense areas of gorse to remind myself of the problem I am solving! Here is the most boring video you will find! But an important record (and this is the short version!)





Comments

  1. Mark IliffFebruary 4, 2022 at 4:08 PM

    I see what you mean by "looks brutal", but then the final vid does put it into context. I wanted to see footage of the mulching!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark IliffFebruary 4, 2022 at 4:09 PM

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