Bel's Wood

I am coming up to the 4th anniversary of taking ownership of Bel’s Wood.   So much has changed in that time and yet I feel I am at the beginning of this journey of creating a wood.  The saplings were delivered last December and planted by mid January.     Mulch mats were added February - May  Followed by 31/2 months of bracken bashing Watching the saplings grow has been a joy with some anxiety thrown in. I took stock of their growth a couple of months ago https://belswood20.blogspot.com/2024/09/celebrating-new-trees.html   Since the bracken died back I have enjoyed spending time at the wood removing grass from spirals, pushing back the remnants of bracken and clearing some brambles where a sapling is being overwhelmed. I have also ‘captured’ quite a few naturally regenerating oaks and hazels.  Oaks    I am leaving the birch without spirals or stakes as they are thriving more than those that I planted. I may move some which are strad...

Blue - done Pink - to do With help from friends and with lengthening days I remain on target to get all the mats laid by the end of April. I’ll then go round again and add the extra spigots where we have only added one for now and finish by mid June just in time for the bracken to start growing. I am really enjoying it. I started with a sense of rush and press to get the mats down. Now I know I can do 50 when feeling tired/ in the wet and the cold; 100 on a normal day and 150 when I ‘go for it’ I have a sense of confidence that they will get down before the grass starts to grow in earnest. I passed the half way mark of 2,125 this week & I now know what it will take to do the other half. I am going to the wood often for a couple of hours at a time and friends give me an hour or two most weeks and that has kept the plan on track. Here is the story of the first half. The first half arrived in early February on a cold wet day They were stowed to protect them from the rain and then...