With the sap starting to again fall to ground and the leaves starting to turn to their golden Autuminal hues, now is the time to start planning the real work. We have now mapped the first area where we plan on clearing the spruce and planting broadleaves in their place. The first area is approximately 35m x 33m. There are eight very mature oak trees which will remain and one Scots Pine. Their canopies cover a fair amount of the space and we will only be planting new trees where they can see the light above them. The first challenge was to plan them at only 2m apart but in the most natural way possible so I used curves which I hope on the ground will provide a staggared effect to provide some privacy and also look the most natural. This done, I then colour coded the trees on the map to show which species would go where trying to imitate nature as much as possible but also bearing in mind how the trees grow, how fast or slow they grow, and providing a boundary which is bushy.
The trees chosen for phase one of the work are Field Maple, Hawthorn, Birch, Rowan, Cherry and Hazel. Most of these species already grow in the rest of the woodland with the exception of Rowan (but they like shade and provide wonderful berries) and Cherry (which provide beautiful flowers and wood).
In all, to replant this relatively small area will take upto 150 trees, stakes and protectors (needed as we have Roe Deer and Muntjak who regularly browse the new shoots) so this won't be an inexpensive venture and we are currently investigating ways of obtaining grants and help with the expense as in all there will be over 1000 trees needed to replace all the Spruce and that's a lot of trees stakes and protectors, not to mention the investment in time for planting them. One saving grace we have is that woodland time is a lot slower than human time and this project is likely to last years as we are restricted as to when we can plant trees to give them the best chance of survival.
Off to the woods again this weekend, after the Bentley Wood Fayre of course where we are hoping to gain some invaluable information and perhaps even the odd contact or two. I think we will be trying to identify all the different mushrooms which are springing up all over the place so looking forward to that.
