A new site this morning, at the very top end of the Colne Valley, planting up a couple of fields on unused farmland. We were planting bare-rooted trees also. Usually we plant trees which have a small root ball and soil, and we protect those small trees with a stake and a guard. Todays trees were bigger than usual, and were planted with no stakes and guards. Its much quicker planting and the trees are much cheaper to buy - there has been some debate as to whether this is the future. It is fine if the trees are planted on land where they will be safe from grazing animals, but where there is any chance of nibbling then stakes and guards at least let the trees get established. The weather was poor, but maybe not quite as bad as the weather forecast made out. Driving sleety rain all morning, but it didn't become torrential. This morning's cakes were Raspberry buns, but to be honest it was too cold and wet to really enjoy them. Last year we were blessed with a load of sunny saturdays, this year its been pretty poor so far. And here's a picture of me, looking cold and wet.
Today we were also joined by a small group of local young
people, Enviroyouth, who helped with the planting. While we were planting, part of the field was being fenced off to protect the trees from grazing, the last picture is of the fencing contractors tractor.