Things have been busy in our woodland over the last year and the year ended in a dramatic fashion with a storm from the east that saw 10 of trees come down (four more have to come down as they are leaning precariously – if you are coming to visit don’t dawdle on the driveway!).
Over Christmas there was torrential rain, turning our heavy wet clay ground into a sloshy mud. Then on the day before New’s Years eve we had biting cold weather and high winds from the East, not our prevailing wind direction. These Spruce weren’t used to it at all, but still, more room for native trees to come in and regenerate.
How did your the trees/forest in your area fare?
I’ve been keeping a visual diary of all the goings on in our Holly Wood over 2009 – so named with our new sign below. Here are the highlights and many thanks to all those involved along the way. Rollover images below for more information – you might have to visit the post here to see info.
Our friend Peter made a new sign for our woodland (its named after our dog, Holly, as the wood has always been her favourite place and it seems fitting with the films I make too)
Related posts:
- The 'before' shot – converting spruce monoculture into a real forest
- Burning Bright selected for Eigse 2009 Film programme
- Thinning to easily create an ecologically & economically sustainable forest, in South Carlow, Ireland
- Dog teaches Ireland about permanent close to nature foresty
- Local community forest directory now available
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s a great name for the woods and I love ‘night shots in the wood’..
Thanks Ann, hope you will come for another visit to Holly Wood this year!
Hi Cathy,
There has been quite a bit of windthrow this year, its always a bit shocking to see it in your own place. I’ll be up with Giles later this month so if you need anything moved let me know. I like the name for the wood. Also Coford are looking for suggestions that should be covered in their next series of ‘Notes’, I made some suggestions concerning permanent cover and conversion sites, you can do the same here-
http://www.coford.ie/iopen24/forms.php?fID=23
I also want to chat to you about Copenhagen! Talk soon
Chris
Hi Chris, sorry it has taken time to reply. We were a bit shocked by the windthrow, but as another Close to Nature forester wrote in and said ‘No harm with the windthrow – think of it as the site rejecting spruce on that particular spot and saying “I can grow something more suitable here”. But is was amazing to see how liquid the ground had become and the roots moving around. I’m writing an article about Copenhagen so will post here soon, its a bit overdue but it overwhelmed my head for awhile. We do have a couple of trees still at 45 degrees, stuck at the top, so if you are passing with your pulling gadget it would be useful, but its not urgent – makes people come up the drive faster. Also, we would like a shorter brash clearer scythe. See you, C