Bel’s Wood Waking Up Spring 2026

Spring is a special time everywhere and having spent many hours at Bel’s Wood in the cold and dark days this winter, seeing the saplings sprouting, hearing bumblebees again and the wider range of birdsong in the lengthening days is a delight.

One of the species of tree that I have introduced to Bel’s Wood is the Alder. I know Alder as a large old knurly tree. Last year the saplings become well established growing straight and tall and with side branches radiating evenly. Well, spring brought new delights with colour from fruit and flowers on these 2m high trees.

Alder flowers

The purple/ violet and yellow colours remind me of Regency Colours and came as a complete surprise to me and has made the tree a new favourite.

The Willow trees have grown well and many of the saplings planted 2 years ago have produced pussy willow.

Pussy willow on saplings

September 2025 one of the tallest trees at the wood modelled by my friend Lisa

This is particularly pleasing as I have lost one grand old willow tree and the second large one (Willowmena) will fall in the coming years.

   

Fallen Willow and Willomina in full flower

This crack has appeared between those two large trunks you can see in the picture above on the right and I was surprised she is still standing after Storm Dave.

These old trees have always been filled with queen bumblebees early in the year (earliest mid Feb a few years ago) and is clearly an important supply of nectar for them as they emerge from hibernation. I wonder what the calculation is of how long it will take 225 newly planted willow saplings to replace 2 large veteran willows in terms of food for invertebrates. They will over the longer time and I can only hope that Willowmena holds on for the new ones to come through. There are 2 other medium sized willows too. They are easy to spot across the site as they are in flower early when the other trees are just bare branches still.

I finished moving the naturally regenerated saplings, including the large Downy Birch from the top of the Gin and Tonic Terrace before they came out of dormancy. 

View from the G&T Terrace with Birch Saplings in the foreground and the Gorse regrowing in the middle of the shot creating a wind break. The whole area would be gorse again if it had not been cut back over the last couple of years alongside the bracken. 

Despite managing the area by cutting down gorse and bracken this area below the G&T Terrace has been the least successful planting area in terms of sapling failure rate. I realise from observing the different planting areas that exposure to wind is a significant factor. This slope faces south west which is where the prevailing wind (Atlantic Westerlies) hits full on. The soil is poor quality - thin and stony. This is an area that was cleared of Gorse and I can see that this hardy plant has had little competition and the shot above shows that no natural regeneration had taken place under the gorse before this project started ie no teenage trees and just one hawthorn in shot. Even though the gorse was pulled out by the roots and flayed it is trying to come back. I have left a stand in the middle, where newly planted saplings failed in 2024/25, to return to gorse. This will act as a wind break half way up and shield an area above it. I have moved the self seeded Downy Birch saplings to surround this stand. It is pleasing to see how quickly these have come into leaf despite the trauma of being moved in March. They are already over 1m high and with the protection of the gorse are doing well and in time will shade out the gorse. This plan has evolved over the last 12 months and appears to be successful. I will keep planting self seed Birches into the gorse margins to stop it from encroaching. Gorse is a useful plant due to its hardiness and production of flowers for pollinators but does have a tendency to take over. I removed it to produce space for planting and a wider diversity of plant and better habitat for birds. It looks like this could be successful in the longer term with this replanting strategy.

Downy Briches moved to gorse stand and initially protected from the wind and in time will shade out the gorse. I'll add more next year from the next crop of self seeded saplings.

Newly moved trees budding and looking healthy

The trees that have survived under the G&T Terrace, are doing well. In particular Crab Apple and Hazel. I will stick to these trees plus Birch for infill from now onwards as they cope best with these less than ideal conditions while also nurturing those that have been successful (Field Maple, Alder, Cherry). I have laid second mulch mats on any tree not yet taller than its tree guard which will suppress the grass to give the sapling more light and also hold the bracken away for a while until the first cut. This area is the number 1 priority for bracken management this year. I was late to start this area in year 1 when I lost quite a few trees and last year we gave it 3 cuts. Hopefully this year it will need the more standard 2. Some areas need no bracken cutting this year as the trees are well established so I can afford to give this area more attention.

Bracken growth 4th May 2025 which is a good reminded that the 

bracken management season is fast approaching!

And then there is the blossom:-

The earliest this year was the Worcester Apple sapling donated and planted in 2023. It came into blossom for the first time this year and the flower emerged before the leaf. A few flowers have been pollinated and are forming little swellings that may become apples although I suspect it will need another year to bear fruit.

I planted the tree in Camp 1 and my dream is to get up from a night in my hammock and pick an apple for breakfast one day.

Damson trees coming into blossom

Last year there were 5 pieces of blossom on the largest damson tree and this year there are many more and a second tree is producing a few flowers as well. I am probably a few years away from picking fruit but I have about 12 trees in the orchard and will add a new one that I will buy at Damson Day. This one is a Nottinghamshire tree - Merryweather. Most of the others and those from Damson Day will be Westmorland Damson, the native damson trees.

The Cherry blossom came out in the sunshine the other day. I have 6 mature cherry trees and this is the first to bloom. 

These are mostly older trees which are dropping branches, or have fallen over. 

I have planted 300 Wild Cherry saplings across the site and they are doing well. No sign of blossom on those yet so I hope the old ones hang on until they are mature enough to produce blossom like this old one (photo from Spring 2025) for the insects and fruits for the birds and small mammals.

The blackthorn is late at Bel's Wood. When I drive to the wood I have seen the hedgerows full of the white flower. While up there overnight on Good Friday the first trees came into bloom overnight but it's still a thin showing. It looks good with the gorse which was smelling heavenly in the sunshine - a coconut smell.

The established Rowans are showing a few green shoots and most of the new saplings are still tightly furled but this one has shot ahead of the others! The leaves are out and the beginnings of blossom can be seen although still green. Looking at its location, it is well protected from the wind, there is lush grass around its base indicating thicker soil, it is planted on level ground so maybe doesn’t experience such changes in wetness with run through keeping it better nourished. Areas such as this have been the most successful in terms of percentage success rate as well as size of tree and its strength of growth.

The flowers are slowly emerging and look late this year. The violets started in late March this year when they were out in February last year. There was one by the beck one day then a good display as soon as the sun hit.

Aconites have appeared by the entrance gate

I was given a wild primrose by a friend last year and this has come up - I hope that it will spread.

I can see the bluebell, wood sorrel, foxglove and hawthorn leaves all showing and I am hoping for a good show in the coming months.

Meanwhile I am continuing to add mulch mats to trees that have not made it beyond the top of the tree guard, I'm doing some hand weeding where the saplings look overwhelmed and have a plan for this year's bracken management which will start late May early June depending on how quickly everything grows this year.

The tiniest Whitebeam sapling germinated from seed last year 

(placed in my fridge at home for 3 months to break the germination)  

with a bit of green on top so it is alive!