Bel's Wood

All of the trees have arrived and are safely stored at the wood ready for planting on 28th/ 29th December 2023. The weather has presented challenges this year and I have gained a small insight into the world of nurseries and the risks they juggle throughout the year. The list of trees that I wanted to plant was shared with nurseries over a year ago. There was some to-ing and fro-ing at that point as some of the trees I wanted were not available (black poplar for example). Having secured a grant from the Forestry Commission I need to match the plan they approved as closely as possible and so where a species of tree wasn't available I substituted a tree from the list they have agreed that was a similar size. Having flexed the plan I then found at the point of the order being prepared that some trees were not been available this season or were scarce ie not available in the volume I wanted and/ or expensive and often not available from the nursery I planned to use. These were the tree

The plan had been to plant the 4,200 trees in November 2023 but the warm wet weather meant that the trees did no go dormant as anticipated and nurseries did not lift them from the ground. The climate appears to be changing and compressing the season for planting. I received a message on 1st December, the first day of winter, that the trees are now being lifted but ironically the ground was now too hard for planting to go ahead! I took this photograph on 3rd December in Kendal when the roads were impassable and I was happy to stay at home. Thankfully the sun appeared and the roads were gritted (mostly) and with care I made it to the wood with friends to work on those final wood piles that needed clearing.  It was wonderful seeing the wood with fresh, deep, powder snow and noticing the changes in such a short time. Not a leaf remained on the branches. The hawthorn berries had all dropped from the branches Some of the paths were blocked as the weight of the snow had made the gorse collaps