Wind in the Willows, Birches, Rowans, Alders...

Saturday 21st January 2012

The sun still did not show itself as it broke the horizon, but the sky was more promising for the day ahead.

Wind in the Willows, Birches, Rowans, Alders, Hazels, Crab Apples, Field Maples, Guelder Roses, Dog Roses, Ash trees, Dogwoods, Blackthorns...

We know when it's a windy day here. The sun comes up! Well, that's how it seems sometimes. A Westerly wind especially announces itself. The front door howls and whistles. Today was a breezy one - not unusual out here on The Fens. There's nothing to stop the airflow and it's better to embrace it rather than try to fight it. Important to remember that when ahead lies a weekend planting trees out on the most exposed parts of the farm. Today the wind swung round to a Northwesterly, bringing with it several squally showeres of decidedly chilly rain. So it was that I found myself huddled up in the lee of what remains of the haystack. But today's task was a "whatever the weather" task. The 430 trees which arrived too late to begin planting on Thursday now needed my attention.

What they'd look like in two years, five years or twenty years time is hard to imagine, so I like to drive stakes in where the trees are to go to get some sort of picture.

Since moving in to Swallow Farm, I have been keen to preserve the views across the surrounding farmland to the horizon. At the same time, there is a definite need to provide some element of shelter from the winds. The prevailing wind sweeps in from the Southwest, which is why whenever I stake a tree the stake goes on that side of the tree. So I have come up with a policy of breaking the airflow with a series of short hedgerows which still preserve the views as far as possible. I have planned the same for the new woodland areas, to allow breaks in the woodland through which to admire the openness of the landsape. Not only that, but I still need to be able to scan all around to look at the birds!

Our land is very long and thin, running west to east, so I have also used the perspective as far as possible to plant as many trees as possible and still keep open the eastern horizon where the sun comes up. 

I managed to place 430 stakes in a morning. In the afternoon I began the daunting task of planting the trees. Each one is barely a slip, so they can go into a T-shaped slit in the ground made with the spade ... in theory. The bare root saplings need their roots protecting from drying out until just before planting, so I take about 25 out at a time and transport them around in a bucket of water, giving them one final dip before planting. Under no circumstances should they be stored with the roots submerged long term. They will drown.

I planted a single species area of hazels, planted fairly close together so that when I eventually coppice them they grow up nice and straight . If I had a larger area I would intersperse the occasional ash tree to grow above them as standard trees. Then a line of Scots Pines on the exposed side of the land to eventually provide a majestic windbelt. Finally 50 Sycamores, for quick growth and quick coppice. The only species in this woodland scheme which is non-native, sycamore has been quick to adapt to life in Britain, and our native buglife has been quick to learn to exploit sycamore in return. One of its main benefits is that it is reputedly immune from rabbit grazing. Ultimately though, sycamores on the coast seem to act as a magnet for warblers on migration, so maybe one day my small migrant trap might attract something unusual like a Yellow-browed Warbler. Everything I plant has at least one purpose, be it for a crop, visual attraction or for the wildlife.