Bel's Wood

When putting together the planting plan it was advised to lay a mulch mat around each tree. These suppress the weeds & grass and maybe help a little with bracken; maintain moisture in dry times; provide nutrients into the soil for the roots as they decompose and control temperature. Laying them while planting the trees is ideal but slows the process down considerably and increases the cost per tree. Mindful of the English Woodland Creation Offer and having learned about its limitations ie the grant doesn’t reflect actual costs, I decided that I would lay the mats myself (with help from friends who have been brilliantly supportive of this project right from the beginning). I have time from the end of planting until spring when the grass begins to grow to get them down. Clearly the delays in planting that I have mentioned in earlier blogs has eroded this time (plans were to plant in November but trees didn’t go in until January and were fully planted by 18th January this year). And s...

  I pick up camera footage of badgers regularly, usually on their own trotting off to somewhere else. This  footage is unusual and shows 2 badgers in playful mood and I wonder if they are feeling the early stirrings of Spring. Before Christmas I caught this cat leaping across the beck on camera:- This took me by surprise. Although there are cottages over the road from the wood at one end and a farm at the other I have always seen Bel's Wood as a wild place. It looked like this cat was on an adventure.  I have found that this one is a regular visitor and then turned up this footage. I have seen hares on the land before although not for over a year now and I wondered if they were living on the other side of the deer fence. In the snow I saw a lot of footprints that are distinctively hare so I was delighted to get this really clear footage.    I think the one below is also a hare caught briefly on the other camera. The lolloping gait suggests it is a hare not a rab...