Bel's Wood

Every year feels like a big year at Bel’s Wood! Year 0 2020 - Find and Buy the land Year 1 2021 - Develop a plan to create a woodland Year 2 2022 - Prepare the land and apply for the woodland creation grant Year 3 2023 - Buy and plant the trees Year 4 2024 - Lay mulch mats and control bracken around the 4,294 saplings Year 5 2025 - Watch them grow! As spring arrives I am looking to see how well the trees that were planted last year have established themselves. I will have lost some just through the process of planting and others through the conditions last year. I was lucky with plenty of rain with no periods of drought but by September, the amount of rain we had had, was causing a problem. Those saplings that had not grown beyond the top off the tree guards were going mouldy! I took those guards off where I spotted this happening but some will have perished.  Some saplings were shaded out by the bracken despite the huge effort put in last year to get round them all in time ...

I’ve been working hard up at the wood since February - initially laying mulch mats and now deep into bracken management. I’m loving spending so much time up there but have not paid as much attention to the wildlife over the last months. I thought I would collate the footage from the cameras and try and capture the rhythm of the wood as I experience it though videos and stills. These were collected in May and June 2024. Despite the land having been farmed and used for rearing pheasants for regular shoots, there have always been some wild feeling areas that I treasure and I aim to expand them with more  trees and less open space engulfed with bracken and gorse. I have both cameras on the beck just now as it is always a good place to pick up wildlife. Young fox crossing the beck There are always badgers out and about in the evenings. I often hear them but rarely see them in the flesh. I have been hoping to see the otter again this year as he has visited in June the last two years. I t...

Over 4,000 trees were put in the ground in January 2024 and Project Mulch Mat commenced in February. Friends pitched in and slowly but surely each tree got it’s mat. I had researched the value of this large task and was convinced that it would help with weed supression (grass and bracken to some extent), water retention (not yet an issue but if we get a dry June like last year they would help), temperature moderation (again not yet an issue but we hit over 30ºc at the wood last year so shading the roots will help) and finally providing nutrients as the jute mulches down into the ground to support the tree roots. Although hard to assess the efficacy I can see that the protection from grass and bracken is working. Here is a little Scotts Pine receiving sunlight due to the mat being in place. I gave the honour of laying the last mat to my friend Mags who has helped me over the last months.  Many other friends have helped including Tina, Jacqui, Charlie, Charlotte, Michelle, Sandy, Sue...