National Tree Week - in praise of gorse

It is National Tree week in the UK from from 25th November - 3rd December 2023 so I have decided to blog about some of my favourite trees telling some of the stories attached to them. This is a blog about gorse with which I have complicated relationship. Across the week I will publish blogs about the three mature oaks at the wood, a hawthorn I know as Agnes and recognise the hard working yews. Check back in to see the other blogs which celebrate trees during Tree Week.

The extent of gorse at Bel's Wood has stifled regeneration and biodiversity. Areas where it was thick & tall had become a monoculture. I took the decision to lift about 60% of the gorse growing to create space to plant a wider variety of trees.  

Nearly 2ha was cleared - the pink areas below show where it was removed from:-

 

Those open spaces are where the new trees will go which should give a good mix of new and old across the site. I have maintained quite a large amount of gorse as it does add to the mix. I have two varieties. One that produces new flowers in November which last until late spring and another which flowers in spring and dies back with the autumn. This helps support wildlife living on nectar pretty much all year round.

 

These wild honeybees started feeding on the gorse flowers on February 23rd this year when it still feels like winter. It was such a delight to have the buzz back in the air as I was tackling the brambles which were throwing themselves across the paths. 

There are particular birds that value gorse and a yellow hammer was spotted by a sharp eyed visitor one day sitting on top of the gorse.

The spiky thorns does give protection for regeneration of saplings. There is limited amount of this visible and when the gorse was removed the contractors took great care to leave the trees that had self seeded in place. Mostly these were hawthorn they also found this lovely silver birch that had struggled to find its way to the light over the years:-

This lovely oak was also uncovered and is thriving. The gorse will have acted as nature's barbed wire in this instance.

The top of the site had been choked with gorse and these foxgloves bloomed the year after removal. The seed stock will have been in the ground but the sunlight was not able to penetrate to warm them to germinate. It will be interesting to see the new competition between these handsome biannuals and the saplings about the planted as the years go by. I have gone for the lower density planting so hopefully there will be an understory which will support wildlife.

I have kept the gorse along the side of one of the two butterfly rides to give a gradation of height from grass to gorse to trees behind which is apparently the best approach. The gorse is southwest facing and will give protection from the wind and generate warm spots on the ground which will support insect life. The scallop shapes instead of a straight line helps create pocket of warm air and I will manage this margin as well as I can.

When the gorse was removed it was lifted out by the roots. Most of it was then mashed up and spread across the land. This will have given some nutrients back into this poor quality land 2 years before planting. This has been broken down by fungi and insects and in itself will be supporting biodiversity. 

  

Another goal of this project has been to increase carbon sequestration. The one negative of the approach I have taken is the carbon cost of pulling the gorse out of the ground and also the release of some of that carbon back into the atmosphere as it mulches down. This project has been a balance between the three goals (biodiversity, carbon sequestration and creating an amenity) and this is an example of the payoff where I made a judgement call. I have released land to plant a wider variety of trees on, some of which like sweet chestnut will store carbon for centuries to come. The best approach to carbon sequestration would be to plant conifers in the most dense pattern possible which is straight lines. Compromise remains the name of the game.

With the removal of gorse the whole site can now be accessed, which it count be before, and a wider variety of trees will become established. The task will remain to control the gorse which is returning with vigour is some areas. So far I have just been chopping this back but after the planting is done I will lift this by their roots before they become fully established. I

I can only hope that the new saplings will successfully compete the gorse and that they will coexist over time.  I know I need to give the new trees a helping hand over the coming years. The picture below shows a nice mix of gorse and mature trees and that is what I am aiming for across the site in the longer term.

Gorse has its place when it doesn't engulf the land and stifle regeneration.