Bel's Wood

The bracken is down so its access all areas at Bel's Wood again.   It is a wonderful place to spend time while the rain and wind have stopped and the sun has been shining and it is glowing gold. I am clearing brambles from overgrown paths and from around the Scots Pines. I have marked the saplings that need to move. I will move them once they are dormant, December at the earliest. I have a good collection of Ash and Wild Cherry saplings for the first time this year. These Ash saplings are unlikely to thrive under the canopy so I shall move many of them to more open areas. The grant does not cover planting Ash saplings due to Ash Die Back so I am pleased to have some self seed and hope that maybe the next generations will create some with resistance to this damaging disease.    These saplings are the first Wild Cherry self seed that I have come across and they have really taken off up this year. The photograph was taken in spring when they first emerged and I gave the...

It is National Tree week in the UK from from 25th November - 3rd December 2023 so I have decided to blog about some of my favourite trees telling some of the stories attached to them. This is a blog about gorse with which I have complicated relationship. Across the week I will publish blogs about the three mature oaks at the wood, a hawthorn I know as Agnes and recognise the hard working yews. Check back in to see the other blogs which celebrate trees during Tree Week. The extent of gorse at Bel's Wood has stifled regeneration and biodiversity. Areas where it was thick & tall had become a monoculture. I took the decision to lift about 60% of the gorse growing to create space to plant a wider variety of trees.   Nearly 2ha was cleared - the pink areas below show where it was removed from:-   Those open spaces are where the new trees will go which should give a good mix of new and old across the site.   I have maintained quite a large amount of gorse as it does add to t...