Bel's Wood

When putting together the planting plan it was advised to lay a mulch mat around each tree. These suppress the weeds & grass and maybe help a little with bracken; maintain moisture in dry times; provide nutrients into the soil for the roots as they decompose and control temperature. Laying them while planting the trees is ideal but slows the process down considerably and increases the cost per tree. Mindful of the English Woodland Creation Offer and having learned about its limitations ie the grant doesn’t reflect actual costs, I decided that I would lay the mats myself (with help from friends who have been brilliantly supportive of this project right from the beginning). I have time from the end of planting until spring when the grass begins to grow to get them down. Clearly the delays in planting that I have mentioned in earlier blogs has eroded this time (plans were to plant in November but trees didn’t go in until January and were fully planted by 18th January this year). And s...

  I pick up camera footage of badgers regularly, usually on their own trotting off to somewhere else. This  footage is unusual and shows 2 badgers in playful mood and I wonder if they are feeling the early stirrings of Spring. Before Christmas I caught this cat leaping across the beck on camera:- This took me by surprise. Although there are cottages over the road from the wood at one end and a farm at the other I have always seen Bel's Wood as a wild place. It looked like this cat was on an adventure.  I have found that this one is a regular visitor and then turned up this footage. I have seen hares on the land before although not for over a year now and I wondered if they were living on the other side of the deer fence. In the snow I saw a lot of footprints that are distinctively hare so I was delighted to get this really clear footage.    I think the one below is also a hare caught briefly on the other camera. The lolloping gait suggests it is a hare not a rab...

Today, Friday 26th January 2024 is a good day.  The planters finished the task of planting 4,200 trees. The last couple of weeks has presented considerable challenges with snow, rain, wind and storms. They were unable to get to the wood this week until today when they still had to overcome some challenging road conditions in Ambleside. Thankfully the days are slightly longer and so they were able to get the final 700 trees into the ground and to protect them with tree guards.                          These are the recycled guards and take a bit longer to wrap around each tree and stake as they have less spring than the new ones. I helped out with a dozen to help get them over the finish line! The entrance is part of zone 1 & has been the final zone to be planted:-   No time to stand an admire the handy work though! Each of the trees needs a mulch mat and these were delivered earlier this week.     ...

  I have been itching to write this blog to say that planting is complete. One month on from the revised, delayed, planting day (18th December 2023) and, as my wise planting contractor, says ‘mother nature shows us who is boss as always….’ Over 80% of the trees are in the ground and look great. The frost came again and the roots of the trees froze.To plant the trees these need to be separated which was likely to cause damage. Also the ground has been so wet that when the thaw comes, where the ice was formed can leave air pockets which will lead to the roots being damaged by cold air if planted into immediately. The contractors took the trees off site to their workshop which has no heating but has given some protection. They have said that the trees are of very good quality and look to be in good condition still so are not worried.   Last night the temperature really dropped after some more snow. This is my milk bottle from my doorstep in Kendal which will have been wa...