Winter turns to spring - preparing the land

                                  

      

 

Spending time at Bel’s Wood with the longer days and increased bird song is a joy. Having postponed the major planting from this year until January 2024 to give another year of bracken management, I have time for other jobs that need doing too. Before the new bracken re-emerges I have focussed on opening space for planting and paths and barbed wire removal.

Opening paths and planting areas

When the gorse was removed last February one section was missed. My fault - I didn’t recognise the newly exposed land and signed off the work finishing at the wrong gate. I have lost a small area for tree planting so have decided to push back the margin at the one side. I can’t pull it all out by hand but I have managed to lift some old dead trees which face north with few flowers and have cut them up so the wood breaks down into the soil. This will take a while and will give me at least one more row of trees over about 50m. 

    Before

After     (more to do!)                                                                               

I have also at last opened up the path where I fell and broke my ankle last year. I tangled one foot in a bramble and got my heal stuck in a rabbit hole and fell sideways into the gorse with my heel stuck. I have avoided that path since but as I come up to the anniversary of my fall, I thought I should take control. It is now an easily navigable path and I shall do some more clearing of brambles and gorse which is encroaching other paths.  I am also spotted some new growth  of gorse in areas where the gorse was removed. Gorse is highly resilient and even though it was lifted by its roots it is still surviving. I have lifting small growths by the roots on some occasions but also have resorted to mashing it up with a small hand axe as that’s quicker although I suspect less successful in the long term! This is hard work and I can only manage 2 hours at a time.

This week it felt like the seasons were changing while I was there. I arrived last week around 10am when there was frost on the ground and quickly the air warmed up and I felt over dressed for outdoor work. 

I heard the unmistakable sound of bees who were feeding on the gorse flowers. These are honey bees and the first I have seen this year (23rd Feb). 

A visitor to the wood today saw a bumblebee fly passed (26th Feb). Checking back on dates I am reminded of the series of storms we experienced last year - Dudley, Eunice & Francis. It is calmer and quieter this year. I spotted a queen bumblebee on 21st February last year.

         

2. Barbed wire

I’ve found strands of rusting barbed wire beneath the bracken crossing some paths. Where the gorse has been removed this has now exposed some more. A friend has helped me remove a few loose strands that we have come across and I have now time to investigate it more fully. I see that there are 5 strands connecting some old disused fence posts running across the site for maybe 100m. Some is submerged below the fallen bracken and so far not causing a hazard. Other strands cause a trip hazard to humans and I have rerouted a few paths and marked some wire with rocks. I am conscious that visiting dogs are at risk. A friend’s rescue dog has had an injury recently caused by barbed wire and not for the first time. I wouldn’t want any harm to come to visitors - human or canine. It could be a hazard to wildlife too. I have investigated online what is the best approach and concluded that I need bolt cutters and a box to put short pieces of the cut wire into. I can take the rusted wire to the dump or see if a scrap metal dealer can use it at all. It will take me some time to work through this and I know there is more on the south of the plot which I haven’t fully investigated yet. I will try and deal with the wire that is visible and consider whether it is safe to leave it deeply hidden in old bracken or whether now is the time to lift it which I would like to do but there are a range of competing jobs needing my time. It is horrid stuff and I am increasingly noticing how it is left by old fences in the countryside.

         

        

3. Tree planting

While the major planting of over 4,000 trees is postponed until 2024, I can make a start this year. I have planted some seeds but these will take another year to be ready to plant, if they germinate successfully.

Last autumn I spotted this hazel sapling and I surrounded it with brush to protect it and it is now showing buds. 

I thought it would be best if I added some sort of guard to protect it from small mammals. The other day I spotted about 15 plastic bottles in a lay-by along the Cumbria South Peninsula coast road. I collected them and managed to donate 5 with sprays and triggers, which were also lying in the lay-by, to our local zero waste shop (Another Weigh, Kendal). I put 5 in the recycle bin as they were squashed and probably not usable but kept hold of 5 which have no lids not having a plan for them. It occurred to me that they could make short vole guards and I have put one onto the hazel sapling today. I shall keep an eye on it and see if it works. If so I can use the other 4. I like the idea of using this plastic otherwise it would be ‘zero use plastic’ - even worse than ‘single use plastic'!

       

As spring comes I will keep an eye out for other saplings emerging. With the deer now excluded there should be some successful natural regeneration.

This week I was offered a couple of damson trees from a local from Crosthwaite. I have collected these and planted them today in a sunny, damp spot near the road. They are a couple of years old so should flower this year and in a few more years bear fruit. They need to be at 5- 10 years old to fruit so it’s great to have established trees. The breed is Merryweather which apparently produce a lovely fruit.

          

         

I found a couple of straight pieces of silver birch which make for good stakes

I am so happy to have planted these trees. It makes the project feel real as until now I have focussed on preparation - clearing bracken, gorse, creating access and putting up the deer fence. I hope to acquire some Lyth Valley damsons suckers soon and was today offered some oak saplings grown from acorns which were collected in this valley.

So a good week at the wood. I am putting my muscles developed from going to gym to good use and am experiencing a ‘virtuous tiredness’ if such a thing exists!