Starting out, and fresh from the insights gained from the visit to the Sustainability Centre, I spent a couple of hours walking around, doing an audit of the trees, looking at growth progress and starting to lay down some broad brush strokes in my mind about the woodland's future.
Here is a list of the trees / shrubs I've identified so far:
- Noble Fir (obviously)
- Nordman Fir
- Scots Pine
- Larch
- Alder
- Rowan (Mountain Ash)
- Hornbeam
- Whitebeam
- Oak
- Sycamore
- Gorse
- Broom
Everything seems very late this year, and the woodland seems a few days later than our domestic garden, which is a few miles inland. Whitebeam is in full flower. Oak are just coming into leaf. The conifers have all flushed and are showing signs of healthy growth. The rowan are in leaf but with no signs of berries (whereas the rowan in our garden has many small berries forming).
It looks like we're going to have a heavy coning year. The Nobles are already showing the embryonic growths that will develop into spectacular upright cones, up to 20cm long. I wonder if there's a specific reason for this, or if it's just another example of how everything is responding to the unusual weather?
The woodland is full of bird-life. More, I think, than we've had before, which is encouraging.
I cleared and levelled a large natural glade which I'd like to ultimately develop as a small, low impact camping site for those who are interested in coming to see what we're up to. I have in mind a couple of pre-erected canvas bell-tents, a covered dining area, composting toilet and solar shower.
While sitting in this glade eating my lunch, it occurred to me that these glades represent a great opportunity to expand the "woodland edge" and increase planting diversity by adding in some new species at the margin of the glade. Introduction of fruiting species, such as more rowan, maybe crabapple and others, will provide a richer habitat for wildlife as well as ultimately providing products to use and/or sell. So, I went on another excursion and identified all the existing and potential glades that could be developed this way.
For some time I've been thinking of the need to develop a tree nursery. We have a lot of Noble Fir seedlings in the main block as a result of natural regeneration. However, many are deeply shaded and I wonder how they will thrive. The plan is to lift these and transplant them into the nursery for a couple of years, where they will be subject to better growing conditions in terms of competition, soil condition and light. They will then be planted out to replace thinned specimens or trees that have naturally failed to thrive.
So, this week I identified a location for the nursery, adjacent to one of the rides and not far from our store-cabin. This will make it easy to bring water down to the nursery for irrigation if needed. The area marked out is 40 feet by 20 feet. Enough for 800 trees at one-foot spacings, although I don't think we'll plant that many (but we'll see). The next steps will be to prepare the ground, dig in plenty of compost and fence it. (We don't have too many deer in the wood, but the sight of 800 tender young Noble Fir saplings all in one place would just be too tempting!)
The remainder of the week has been spent felling a brashing dead trees for firewood, and processing some of the (limited) thinning we have done so far. I leave the piles of brash in the woodland amongst the trees as a wildlife habitat. The branches will also ultimately break down and return nutrients to the soil. I do worry about fire-risk though. The trunks are cross-cut into logs in-situ and hauled out by Land Rover to a large logpile where they are seasoning ready for winter.
We've also been carrying out ride clearance and mowing. I'm in two minds about mowing the rides. Keeping them clear does improve airflow and generally makes it easier to get about. Without maintenance, we get three foot high thistles very quickly. However, mowing does seem to stimulate the growth. On balance, I'd rather mow than use a herbicide.
Finally, Carol has done a great job of painting the cabin with a fresh couple of coats of woodstain.
So, at the end of a busy week, the muscles are aching, but I'm generally feeling good having spent the whole week out of doors.
No comments:
Post a Comment