Bel's Wood

It is National Tree week in the UK from from 25th November - 3rd December so I have decided to blog about some of my favourite trees. Check back in to see the other blogs which celebrate trees during National Tree Week. This one is a bit different. W hen I first researched developing a new woodland I came to the conclusion that dead wood should remain where it fell having read a great deal about woods and forests.           This project would not include coppicing or providing wood for burning off site - I would burn some when up there but that's all.  I would leave fallen trees where they landed and allow the wood to decay and return the nutrients in the wood to return to the earth. I may need to tackle trees in particular instances. This lovely oak came down in Storm Arwen in November 2021 and fell across a neighbour's fence. I tried to cut it back sufficiently that the new deer fence could be erected but the crown did need to be cut to create space....

Last year we experienced a number of significant storms. Storm Arwen in November 2021 was the greatest in terms of a weather event but then we had a series of three storms in February 2022 - Eunice, Dudley and Francis. Storm Arwen and Storm Francis led to over a dozen trees in Bel's Wood tumbling to a horizontal position. As spring has arrived I have checked on their wellbeing and all but one of the deciduous trees have come into leaf and blossom. There is a holly tree which is hanging on but doesn't look healthy. I have gone over old photographs to see if I can show the trees before the storm, immediately after and now as they are in leaf.  This cherry looked dead when I first got to know the wood in January 2021 so had fellen over long before the recent storms. With that large white fungus working its magic, dissolving the lignin, I had thought it was dead wood slowly rotting into the land.    But as last year, it has produce...