Bel's Wood

My offer has been accepted on plot 3. There is quite a way to go with completing the purchase which will take 6-8 weeks (target late October 2020). The plot is about 8hectares, on a slope and has a mixture of trees, bracken and gorse (2m high in many places) and both are preventing further trees from becoming established. There is a stream running through it and a road running along the bottom. There is no access point currently and it is not fenced off from the neighbouring plots. More details on the site will follow but not until the ownership has been acquired. Planning a strategy for Bel’s Wood There are three complementary goals: 1. Increase carbon sequestration 2. Increase biodiversity 3. Use the plot as an amenity  Carbon sequestration One of the aims for acquiring land is to increase carbon capture and a make a small but positive contribution to carbon neutrality by 2040. One national policy is ‘planting more trees’ and hence my desire to plant a new wood on land that has...

Ahead of taking on a woodland I am researching how I will care for and nurture it. I will need to respond to the land I take on but meanwhile I will investigate plots that have been cared for differently to the usual farm land in South Lakes. I have discovered plots of land which give open access in a sea of farmed land or small woodlands in an ocean of pastures. Some are relics of the past while others are more recent attempts to move away from the monoculture that has become the norm in Cumbria. Barktooth Lot SD 418 909 Now owned by Cumbria Wildlife Trust 27 hectares donated in 1975 by Mrs Sheila Caldwell. https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves/barkbooth-lot Visiting on a wild day (Storm Frances) - I disturbed a deer grazing and a tawny owl hunting in the middle of the afternoon. The land has been allowed to be wild - a lot of bracken and not many trees. Cows grazing. Oh and a tiny frog. There are 2 ponds - one mature and lovely, the other in dev...

The Vision Acquire a small parcel of land in South Cumbria, improve the biodiversity there and increase the capability of the land to pull carbon out of the atmosphere.  First I need to buy the land. I am bidding for my third serious contender now. I was outbid on plot number 2 (which appeared as a better option as I was about to bid on no 1). Now I am working on plot number 3. My bid is in but I have had no response so I continue to look and research how to go forward. This blog will document the new land, what is currently there, my plans as they emerge;  their implementation and the outcome over a 10 year period. My mind is full of red squirrels finding a refuge, ceasing grazing to allow wild flowers to flourish, stopping bird breeding and shooting. Clearing bracken and gorse and introducing native deciduous tress, Scots pines and larches. Creating ponds. Mending fences & walls and creating space to sleep out and to build a fire. Thinking of nights star gazing with dark...