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 ...

                                                     Spending time at Bel’s Wood with the longer days and increased bird song is a joy. Having postponed the major planting from this year until January 2024 to give another year of bracken management, I have time for other jobs that need doing too. Before the new bracken re-emerges I have focussed on opening space for planting and paths and barbed wire removal. Opening paths and planting areas When the gorse was removed last February one section was missed. My fault - I didn’t recognise the newly exposed land and signed off the work finishing at the wrong gate. I have lost a small area for tree planting so have decided to push back the margin at the one side. I can’t pull it all out by hand but I have managed to lift some old dead trees which face north with few flowers and h...