I collected some acorns from my local woods just over two years ago and planted them in pots. I have about twenty baby oak saplings now and was keen to get them in soon as spring is almost here. Having completed the sycamore thinning in the N.E. corner and tidied up last visit, I was keen to get there this weekend. The weather was fantastic, mild, dry and bright. I spotted the first few wood anemone flowers. As yet the vast army of them are still just emerging and will cover huge areas soon but for now there are just one or two to brighten the day.

First job was to find enough suitable supporting stakes from the hazel and sycamore branches I had previously cut down and point them up. Using these I loosely stuck them where I thought the trees could go, roughly two metres apart aiming for a random pattern. Some I put a little closer to try to emulate a more natural look.

I cleared a small area of weeds around each spot, dug a small hole, planted the tree then banged in the stake to hold up the plastic tree shelter. These are important to protect the baby trees from deer, rabbits and voles which could easily destroy them in seconds. They also act as mini greenhouses and encourage more rapid growth. The down side is that leaves and debri tend to drop down into them. Once the trees emerge and make some decent height they will be removed but I guess that’s going to be at least 5 years. It was pretty hard work and took up the majority of my day but I cam away very satisfied. Here’s the before and after photos.


I had another go at filming the birds on the feeders with my new trail camera. Sorry to say it was another failure. I placed it further away this time so it would be in focus. Checked I had set it to video and got a short piece of me walking around the feeder so was confident I had it right. I left it all day, moving it to another spot at one point but there was virtually nothing recorded. Don’t know what I’m doing wrong yet, need to play with it some more.
During my lunch break I had a wander around and came across this lovely old ash tree that has forked and has a very rounded cruck where they meet. The boy came out in me and I found myself wanting to climb it and sit in it and enjoy the higher viewpoint. It’s only about six or seven feet up but I needed to place some long logs against it to act as a ladder.

It felt really good to be sat in it and I decided at some point I’ll make short rustic ladder so it can be accessed easily and make it a bit of a feature. I can imagine me sitting there with a mug of coffee, laying back on the sloping trunk and taking in the peace and tranquility. Even at that short height, the views of the wood open up a little more. Owning a woodland isn’t just about work. Somebody advised me at the beginning to make sure I took time out just to enjoy it. I can endorse that.