In the pines

Robert and Lesley remove the stump of a tree they felled.

In the pines, is exactly where we were today. We went to the small Scots pine plantation round the back of Butterley Reservoir. We think this was planted by the water board back in the 1960s, when that sort of thing was fashionable. Sadly the plantation is not looking as vibrant or viable as it did even 10 years ago. There are a large number of dead trees, and a number of trees that have been blown down in storms. At the same time, there are beginnings of natural regeneration of native broadleaf species, including Oak, Rowan and Holly, at ground level. We went in there with bow saws to take down some of the smaller dead pines, in order to allow more light to the natural regeneration. We were: Joanne and Jake, Lesley and Robert, Guy, Geoff, myself and Peter. Everyone worked safely, and no trees fell on us. We left the site at least as tidy as we found it. All timber was left on site in habitat piles.

https://youtu.be/gOZKz_sPM6U

Clare

We were extremely sad this week to hear of the death of a friend and member of the Society, Clare Bakhtiar. Clare planted trees with us between 1998 and 2001, but moved away from the area. She stayed in touch, and twice came with us on our occasional Summer walking and mountain trips. The above picture was taken at Inchnadamph Lodge in Scotland, just before we walked up Ben More Assynt. Her sudden death in an accident is a terrible loss, most of all for her son Caleb.

Nature boy

Its always a shame to split up the workforce, as a large part of the reason to be there on a Saturday morning is the social aspect, but, sometimes there are things that need doing.

So this morning we had a nursery party, myself, Dianne, Peter W., Ben and Solo the dog. And an out and about party, Philip, Geoff and Steve.

The nursery party cleared paths and covered up allotment beds with landscape fabric (donated by Duncan). This gives us access and space for storage of the Winter planting stock.

Philip and Geoff visited a prospective site at Bolster Moor, and then joined forces with Steve at Wholestone Moor to weed, straighten guards, and perform general aftercare duties. The trees are doing well. Some of the more recently planted nurse species are doing their job of growing quickly. The oak are growing, all but slowly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JquzYr-5bE4

Messing about in the shrubbery.

Bad to the bone

This evening I went up above Marsden with Sarah and Neil to take a look at the ash die-back in their field. Very sad, not every tree is affected, and most that are affected still have new growth from this year, but have lost their main upward stem, the leader. Forestry commission advice is a bit unclear. They don't advise outright destruction, but do say that coppicing from diseased trees is likely not a good idea. Coppicing was Neil and Sarah's original plan for these trees. Luckily, they have other trees, and other species in the same field.

Diseased stem, it will work its way back down the stem.

The leader (top stem) seems most often the one to go.

Classic "lesion" on stem.