New member.

[Wilbert]

Good morning, having been kindly accepted onto the forum I thought it would only be appropriate and good manners to post an introduction.

My name is Wilbert Steele and while not really a woodland owner in the usual sense, I am presently in the middle of planting one so depending on what the exact definition of woodland is I would expect to become one sometime in the future.

Not really in a position yet to give much information out on anything other than planting or rabbit control, so I'm unashamedly here more to take than to give!

Oh, I'm in County Antrim.

[Rich]

Hi Wilbert,
And welcome to the forum, good luck with your new planting. Having a blank sheet of canvas, I'm interested in what species you have gone for? Also is there any Chalara, Ash dieback in your part of the world?
cheers
Rich

[Wilbert]

Well firstly my planting was delayed while our Forest Service decided what to do about Ash Dieback during November, and then I had to totally rethink the make up of the woodland as they decided to ban all movement of Ash saplings and my planting was going to be about 40% Ash!

So after much deliberating and reading up of any/every piece of information I could get I decided to go for as mixed a woodland as possible. Firstly, as I hope it'll be more interesting, and secondly it'll hopefully be less prone to harm from any future diseases as there's more variety in it and even, in a worst case scenario, two or three things get taken out, there'll still be plenty left.

It means a lot more work as large blocks of a small number of species is simple and quick compared to working with lots of different stuff, but trying to distribute it around the site in a logical and sensible fashion while appearing as random as possible!

Final make up is,
2500 English/Pedunculate Oak
450 Alder
500 Hazel
350 Downy Birch
350 Silver Birch
200 Rowan
200 Norway Maple
200 Scots Pine
200 Sessile Oak
150 Red Oak
150 Lime
100 Whitebeam
100 Wild Cherry
100 Blackthorn
100 Hawthorn
50 Crab Apple
50 Horse Chestnut
50 Holly
50 Guelder Rose
In addition I've foraged about 20 Ash Saplings out of the hedgerows and have planted them among the blocks of Alder to try and keep the faith with Ash to some degree.

Started on New Years day and i'm about half way through or maybe a wee bit more, hope to be finished by end of this month or very early March at the latest.

[SimonFisher]

What area (size) is this to plant?

[Wilbert]

Near enough 8 acres.

[Whatisheatnow]

Great selection there! Another tree people might consider is the spindle or pegwood. Are there many of those growing wild in England or are they known by a different name? They are scarce enough in Ireland but they are great for wildlife in winter.

[Alex]

Wilbert, excuse my curiosity, but what has led you to this planting, wood land creation?

[Wilbert]

Wilbert, excuse my curiosity, but what has led you to this planting, wood land creation?

Ah, now there's a question.

Lots of different reasons for considering doing it initially, primarily looking at different options for the land now that I've ceased keeping stock and I don't like letting it out in conacre. Considered Short Rotation Coppice initially but soon ruled it out when I started looking in to the practicalities of it, this lead me to consider tree planting.

Spent weeks and months mulling over the usual farmer dilemma of whether or not to "destroy" a piece of prime arable land by planting trees on it when someone told me that I needed to study up a bit more about silviculture and realise what a fascinating subject it is. She told me that if I couldn't realise that I actually had the chance to create something much much better than what I was starting with then I should just forget about it. So I took her advice and did indeed get hooked on trees, so now I'm doing the planting because I want a woodland.

I'm not under any illusion about the task ahead and the fact that the end of the planting is actually just the start of creating a woodland but the years ahead (hopefully!) of maintenance and management are all part of the attraction.

[MattF]

Hi Wilbert

Hello from one newbie to another you have got some planting to do there I hope all goes well and you keep the rabbits away

Regards Matt

[Wilbert]

Hi Matt,

yes, a lot of planting. On top of which, the supplier recommended that I use 60-90cm sapling to get things moving a bit quicker but the root systems on most of them are far too big to plant properly in a slit so there has to be a hole dug for every tree.

And then the rabbits, oh goodness don't talk to me about rabbits! Within a week the wee rascals had started at them so apart from one side of the area which has quite a substantial stream along it, the rest of the entire thing has been fenced with 2ft mesh wire. I also go out on rabbit patrol at least once and sometimes twice a night and any of them getting too close are dealt with quite severely. I've disposed of somewhere between 20 or 30 over the rest of the farm over the past few weeks and there's still plenty of them about.

Luckily I had no idea of all the tribulations ahead when I decided to embark on the scheme but now I just want it finished and then really look forward to the arrival of spring and (hopefully) see everything bursting in to life.