It’s been 4 years since the land constituting Bel’s Wood was enclosed and grazing ceased. The deer fence was erected 3 years ago the wood became fully deer proof just over a year ago.
The land is visibly recovering with self seeded saplings appearing on the woodland floor and some of the mature trees are changing now they are not being continually grazed.
New saplings are appearing - the most common are Blackthorn and Birch
I’m not protecting the Blackthorn as it is so common and have their own thorns but I have moved some well established Birch into areas where some bought in saplings planted last year didn’t take and I am protecting those from smaller mammals such as hares and voles with spirals.
I am particularly pleased to see these self seeded Ash saplings and I have left them where they are hoping that they estalish themselves and are Ash Dieback free.
I found about a dozen of these tiddlers under a deep Hawthorn and Hazel canopy and realise these are Ash too. They would not thrive there with the lack of light when the leaves on the larger trees appear so I am filling in the edges of planting areas in the open where I have lost some saplings. This is a tree I want to encourage but the woodland creation grant cannot be used to purchase them due to the risk of Ash Dieback. There is only hope on this one.
I was pleased to see some oak saplings across the site last autumn and I protected those to help them through the winter. This is another tree I did not buy in as I have some lovely mature Sesslie Oaks and I hoped that a few of their acorns would become established and they have.
I see that it is rare to find a sapling growing among the fallen bracken which shades everything out, left hand photograph below. The Blackthorn sapling in the right hand photograph is a rare exception and making good progress.
Scot’s Pine saplings are planted without protection as they don’t like to be shaded out. The deer would have feasted on these over winter.
I also some have a few Yew trees brought in and one self regenerated sapling too. These are growing without protection. If the deer were still roaming through or there were sheep or cattle then these would not have become established and would have been easily trampled.
Above self seeded Yew that I found under the Hazel and Silver Birch canopy and have transplanted into a more open area. Below the Yews planted as part of Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Canopy, donated by my brother, are doing well.
There are quite a few deciduous trees that were planted last year and outgrew their spirals particularly Aspen & Wych Elm. Deer would have nibbled these over winter but they have emerged safely this spring.
Aspen last summer and February 2025.
I am hoping these taller trees will start to shade out the bracken this summer instead of the other way round.
Some of the mature trees are showing signs of recovery too. This Yew tree now has needles growing on its bark when before that would have been browsed by deer. This gives a richer habitat for invertebrates which then feed the birds leading to a richer diversity and intensity of wildlife.
The new leaves growing on the mature Holly trees are no longer under stress and don’t need to protect themselves as they did previously and so are now growing without spikes
Spikey leaves established on the left and new smooth growth on the right -
both on the same tree
There are some trees that have fallen but are still alive and now they are pushing up shoots which look healthy and I expect them to add to the canopy this summer.
Oak that fell in Storm Arwen pushing up new branches from the horizonal trunk.
Toppled Willow producing shoots at easy browse level which should get away this year.
The wood feels like it is waking up after winter. I will know how many of the 4,200 planted saplings have survived in the coming weeks. I have transplanted about 40 saplings now and thee alongside the regeneration occuring which I haven’t moved should match failure rate of planted trees over the next 10 or so years.
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