24/5 planting update

 24/5 Planting Update.

The area next to the willow coppice. which was predominately 3/4 rows of ash and 1/2 rows of Italian Alder and Hornbeam, was pollard felled in autumn 2025 has been replanted. 200 Oaks and about 85 hornbeam have been planted including an alternating streamside row which almost goes as far as the end of the plot opposite the dyke to the Old North Road. Photo is of pollarded Ash at Weston end of area, when first cut in the late summer 2024. This area planted in the autumn has been badly affected by voles eating through the base of the oak saplings. There will need to be beaten up.

65 Western Red Cedar have been planted at the digester end up to where the Elms are. This area contains previous attempts to beat up with WRC and Douglas some of which survive. the large trees have been pollarded or felled there remain a few ash and smaller Eucs. the remaining 35 WRC have been potted on and should be planted in the autumn either here or amongst the sycamores in Pit Wood. There have been significant losses to the spring drought. So more beat up required.

Planted Oaks May 19th 2025 before any rain
Missing trees due to voles.

Another 100 Oaks to arrived in Feb25 and were planted by the end of the month. I am digging a hole prior to tree planting and leaving the clod to the frost. The clods are much more friable when weathered and very much better than when I first planted the field in 2009. I then add a trowelful of compost/charcoal mixture before driving the trenching spade in as far as possible twice at right angles hopefully to give the roots somewhere to go.  

Almost all the viminalis I Autumn planted have died after Dec frost. They were planted at the gates in the Barrier. I replaced 12 by gate 3 late  April, with ones that did not get planted in the autumn. The problem for them and the other trees planted is that march and April have been totally dry for all intents and purposes. The 15 hornbeam not planted have been planted in the poplar/alder area. April and autumn plantings got 2 splash watering by May which was dry until about the 24th. Things have freshened up since and forecast variable. (27th may). About 50 oaks have been Voled some hornbeam lost to drought.

20th May pollard regrowth at Weston end.

Introduction to planting in Cairn for winter 24/25

 Introduction to planting in Cairn for winter 24/25.

There will be planting at both Pit and Cairn Woods this season. Pit wood will only require beating up of the recently planted trees lost to the floods. There are a lot of them and I have decided to sow extra Eucs though it is too late for autumn planting and hope the weather is favourable.

I have ordered 200 Oaks and 100 hornbeam for planting streamside at Cairn. I reasoned that the remaining Ash rich areas could be felled and replanted. I hope to transplant regen Birch and Alder from else where in the wood together with some Eucs. The area is certainly big enough for 4 or 500 trees. I have underestimated the amount of time required to clear the areas, and may need to be planting into next year. There is also a lot of fuel logs to come out. This may mean I do not need to cut Eucs for heating the house next year. They are being given away to people prepared to carry them out of the wood.

The stream side area was planted 2008-10. As willow was removed Ash regen from the field was planted 4 deep at the Weston end. This was widened when the stream side area was planted 2010 with two rows of hornbeam and a row of Italian Alder. It was further widened with 2 rows of Ash in 2012 these were removed to make the return track for the construction of the main digester track. This was replanted 2016/7 as part of the Ash replacement programme. These trees remain and form the edge of the proposed planting. Brash is to be piled up between the first two rows of the Ash replacements as a deer barrier.

The rest of the planting is made up of small patches with slightly different histories. The whole area was planted with 4 rows of seed grown Eucs 2008/9. Losses were very high and the whole area beaten up and widened  2009/10 Italian Alder, Hornbeam, Ash and Downey Birch. After the winter of 10/11 all Eucs were dead and were beaten up with Ash. So Ash formed the majority of the planting. Three nearly pure Ash blocks were felled and subsoiled and replanted 16/17. The one at the Weston end has a number of American Walnut which will be retained. The second one has some Oak. The third is beyond the P10 block of Lime which forms the limit of the area that could be planted. As the ash canopy thinned through disease attempts were made to in fill, these are small trees and will remain. They were mainly conifers WRC and Douglas as there was still a lot of Italian alder shade. 

Planting Autumn 23 Spring 24

Planting Autumn 23 Spring 24 

There were to be two areas of planting winter 2023 both were disrupted by the exceptionally wet winter.  Planting in the Autumn happened in the area that had been felled of Poplars and Alders. This was to replace the Taiwania and eucs that had died the previous year. Eucs were planted in T1 both Rodwayi and Glaucescens, the later were disappointing when they went in. All these died during the winter almost certainly due to the near constant high water table and flooding.  Though -5C at the start of December and again in January may have contributed. Oak planted there after the floods have survived as have some Eucs. See  winter dec 2023 and After the Flood. A very few Taiwania appear to have survived on the higher land near the Euc block. Robinia planted with the Oaks are struggling. The damp ground may be a factor but snails may be the main issue and one may have been voled.

There was also supposed to be planting in Cairn Wood. The area where the first Eucs had been planted at the far end. Only a few had survived the 10/11 winter and mixed willows had been planted to provide material for replanting should other species prove impossible to establish. This willow had been cleared and chipped. See Cairn-chipping .

The Eucs had been pollarded and stacked track side. ( If they had been blown down they could have impacted the track). The intention was to plant Oaks with E. rodwayi nurses. Knowing how difficult it is to plant into the clay some planting holes were dug and the "soil" put in a pile to get broken down a bit by the frosts. There were vey few air frosts after the cold snap at the start of January and the holes were full of water. Some additional spit trenches were dug to aid the surface water to drain away. The holes were still full of water come March and some heaps were created and initially Oaks were planted into these piles as the Oaks started to break bud. Once the ground stopped being saturated they were planted into holes just the size of the pot, mainly pint pots and the ground around the hole levered onto the compost with a trowel. There were fewer Eucs than anticipated as some had been used to beat up the autumn planting at Pit Wood. 

Oct 24, most of the E. vimnalis just out of the guards but the oaks not.

The north and east side have brash, mainly eucalyptus, barriers while the road side has a barrier of bent hazel or where the hazel stops bent willow with willow woven rods  and hazel brash. the barrier is continuously worked on.

December 24 evidence of deer eating Eucs.

January 25

                     

Work is being done on the perimeter hedging but it is not a priority as most of the Oaks are still in their shelters and the Eucs have been nibbled.

The Wild Wood at Cairn Wood.

 The Wild Wood at Cairn Wood.

When originally purchased the far end of Cairn wood was the area where the youngest willows were, they had also been coppiced most recently and so was the easiest to clear. Being impatient the Salix triandra (Basket Willow) was cut and Oaks from Sherwood acorns and germinating "English" walnuts were planted. The mice dug up all the Walnuts but one, and the deer removed most of the Oaks.  Oaks were then replanted with tree guards. The willow coppice regrowth was allowed to grow thinking it would draw up the trees. Excess saplings from other plantings were inserted into gaps mainly Oak and Cherry. Hawthorn and Field Maple regenerated. The area was let go unmanaged. Before the track was put in it was a long walk down the field. A little pruning was done once the track was there. Reviewing the area in 2023 there are some potentially good Oaks and Cherries  with the odd Walnut.

The Wild Wood 2023. A pruned Oak amongst the impenetrable willow and scrub. 

The S. traindra has been over topped by other trees and is dead or dying. An effort is being made to make the area accessible and to manage the better trees. Hedging stakes have been taken out. Hazels within the wood produced good very long rods and as they were shaded did not produce squirrel food. They could be manged if the deer can be kept away. The row of Hazels by the track were cut for stakes and bean poles the previous year and had few stakes this year and plenty of nuts. Not sure what to do with them in the future.  

There are also a couple of "English Walnuts" Juglans regia and Wild Cherry Prunus avium which might make timber trees. As well as the willow there are large self set Hawthorn, Field Maple and a few Blackhorn some of these have been cut back. They are what make the area dark  and impenetrable particularly on the stream side where there are few timber trees. Winter 2023 I have thinned some out but there is not enough clear ground for replanting. The fairly small area has again sunk down the priority list.

Summer 24. Nothing has been done in this area since the Autumn 23 chipping.

Alder Leaf Beetle.

 

Alder Leaf Beetle.

Agelastica alni (L.)

Many Italian Alders were in the 2010 and 2012 plantings They were joined later by common alder and then Red Alder. After a few years I noticed little blue beetles eating the leaves. By 2018 they were frequent I bothered to look up what they were, Alder Leaf Beetle (ALB) and sent in an observatree report only to be told they were not a problem. Pole stage trees were defoliated by June while eggs could still be found and some beetles could be seen into September. At an Observatree Zoom meeting pictures of them drew a blank, but once people started looking for them they usually found them. My concern was a second generation. Forest research say there is no evidence for a second generation on the continent where it is wide spread but not normally problematic. The defoliated trees do reflush. One year 2021, when we had a high pressure system stuck over the country and cold clear nights with warm sunny days through March and April the beetles became active several weeks before the Alders flushed and were seen feeding on Hazel, Birch, Hawthorn, Cherry Plum and just about anything else that was green.

Their waking up this year coincided with bud burst on Alders.

I took this photo on 4^th April this year. A single horizontal Common Alder shoot on a 3 year old coppice stool. I count 42 beetles, perhaps you can do better. Most of the wood was flooded at least once over the winter so most beetles which hibernate in leaf litter will have died.

After hibernation they feed on Alder leaves but they also eat particularly Birch where I have seen feeding larvae eating. The females abdomens fill with eggs and can be distinguished by the yellow /orange membrane under their wing cases.

The yellow eggs are laid on the underside of the leaves.

The eggs hatch in about a couple of weeks. The 1^st instar are yellow feeding together on the underside of the leaves. The second instar is also gregarious while they do separate out in the final instar. They eat either the top side or bottom surface of the leaf but not both. The whole of one side of the leaf may be removed. They pupate in the litter layer or probably any sheltered crevice. They emerge relatively quickly so adults can be found throughout the year. They then shelter for a diapause time during the heat of the summer before feeding up and hibernating again in the leaf litter. On my light soil they manage to bury themselves shallowly. They are fond of the gap between spirals and a tree trunk.

 

I was aware the beetle was considered Native but declared extinct in U.K, until found in Manchester in 2004. When it spread quickly locally. It can certainly reproduce prolifically and when it is really warm it can fill the air with flying beetles. I invariably find them in the car and on my clothes when I get home in the spring.

 It’s history in Britain is interesting and worth summarising. The following information is lifted from a paper A HISTORY OF AGELASTICA ALNI (L.) (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE) IN THE BRITISH ISLES BY DON A. STENHOUSE. Which appeared in the ENTOMOLOGIST’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE in February 2019.

There are Alder leaf beetles in the Bronze Age deposits of Flag Fen, so there is no doubt about it being native. Prehistoric archaeological evidence comes from several sites, in the South and East of England and one from the Bristol Channel coast of Wales. There appears to be no evidence for it after Iron Age deposits until the start of the 19^th Century. 19^th and 20^th century records are occasional at best and limited to the south and coasts. Historical records are very infrequent surprising for an easily recognisable obvious beetle if genuinely native. There has long been a debate about whether ALB was/is native or a visitor. The last 20^th century record appears to be from Dorset in 1958. The first UK 21^st century record is from Manchester 2004 this was followed by an increasing number of sightings across an ever expanding area. A similar spread was seen after ALB was recorded on the south coast in Hampshire in 2014.

 The Distribution of Alder Leaf Beetle 

from The National Biodiversity Network

 

 

After the Flood

 After the Flood.

I had hoped after publishing the Post "Winter dec 23" I would not have to return to the subject of the December weather. It was rain that fell on the upper reaches of the Trent at the end of December that caused the flooding at Pit Wood similar to the Christmas 2012 flood. A similar area of land was flooded this time possibly not for so long. the weather has been windy but fairly benign,  few night frosts but not much rain here, though there has been plenty further north. What I didn't realise was the extent of damage in the Rectangular field particularly to  the area of felled Alders and Poplars which I have been replanting over the previous 15 months. The area was planted with Alders and Poplars precisely because of the 2012 flood, so I can't say I am shocked. 

The log piles after some had been moved to make
a path. The pallet that can be seen on the left had
been under logs on the right hand side.

The piles of logs that had been disturbed by the local floods of Babat and Gerrit were completely redistributed by the Trent after storm Heck. The first time I went to the Tulip wood I found the triangular arrangement of pallets I used as a gate post had been overturned and the pallet used as a gate was missing. Deer had obviously been eating the Oaks. The two trail cameras which had been set in boxes on chairs had been under water, one of them was totally missing. Some tubex guards had been removed, and a lot of canes were broken, floating dead wood may have knocked them.  

Three pictures of P22 Oaks that have been grazed by deer. The one on the right has just been pruned
by them the leader having got high enough. The other two will  need additional protection and pruning.

The main problem in the Rectangular wood has been the collapse of the dead hedging which has allowed deer into the area to browse the oaks. I only found one Douglas that had been browsed. I have tried to reinforce the hedging with a bit of weaving and Robinia stakes. The old logs I am lining up against a fence line. They have to be moved and I hope they will be difficult for the deer to walk on.

The idea is that they will act a bit like a cattle grid the deer's hooves tending to slip off the round untethered tops of the logs. I will plant Eucs between some of the logs if I have spare trees in the spring. Brash can be piled on the logs as it is generated. The section photographed will get Elder from under the Alders of the nearby shelterbelt. There is no immediate hurry as the weather is a much greater threat to the new trees inside the fence. For the most part they are still in guards.

The situation in the Tulip Wood is different. The deer have just about always been able to get in many  oaks have been browsed. The flooding, high water table and strong winds mean a lot of trees are leaning badly. Unfortunately even those in second hand 1.2m tubes can be browsed if they lean a bit.

On the left Euc Pollards with dying new regrowth, frost?
On the right older regrowth affected by thrips.
The leaves are also in poor condition, caused by flood?  

The worst affected wood is the lowest lying, The Triangular Field several Eucs have fallen over, including pollards that have ideal multi-stem regrowth. A number of pollards with multiple one years regrowth appear to be dying. They may have been frosted or it may be flood related. The former is suggested as areas that were less flooded are also affected.    

The blown E. rodwayi 

It is my intention to fill in any gaps that may appear at the triangular wood with E. rodwayi because as a swamp gum it is more wind firm. It is also more frost tolerant but slower growing. I still will, but I have just found the first P11 Rodwayi to be blown down. Fortunately the crown fell on the ditch side ride, while the trunk bisected other Eucs, so no collateral  damage. The continuously sodden ground has meant that high winds still bring down Eucs in the triangular wood.

The epicormic growth that follows pollarding is less well secured to the trunk and rot working down from the cut surface means that pollards are more likely to loose limbs from the trunk. Pollards with one regrowth stem appear to be more susceptible. They have a large area of the cut growth which is dead allowing rot in. They are more lopsided and may have less photosynthetic potential to combat infection. They are also more exposed. Though the log is useful.

Two of the most successful pollards have been toppled though both had a previous lean. By successful I mean they had a number of regrowths that were long straight and up to 6" max diameter so did not need splitting.

A low pollard in the autumn, felled in winter after root plate lifted, cord logs from it.

 The saturated ground has had another  detrimental effect. All the E. glaucescens and E. rodwayi I have planted over the winter appear to have died.  The glaucescens are known not to like waterlogging but the rodwayi are swamp gum and must be able to withstand waterlogging at least when established. They have done well in the triangular field which is where some have gone in and is much wetter than the rectangular field where they have also failed. I wonder if the failure of some E. dalrympleana and viminalis that have also failed in the rectangular field may have failed becaus of the water logging rather than the frost I initially blamed.

Chestnut Article

 Chestnut Article

This is a rough Copy of an article I wrote for the Quarterly Journal of Forestry. The article actually contains more Photos.

If the Romans Did Not Bring Sweet Chestnut to Britain, Who Did? John Pitcairn looks into this intriguing question following a throwaway remark at the 2023 Whole Society Meeting. 

At the recent excellent Whole Society Meeting hosted by the South Eastern Division, we saw exemplary sweet chestnut coppice silviculture and were introduced to its economic and cultural importance. At one estate the host, in an almost throwaway remark, said that a Dr Robin Jarman had made a convincing case for the Romans not being responsible for the introduction of sweet chestnut into Britain and that the first evidence for it was from the 6th or 7th century. This, according to my schoolboy history, was when the Jutes, Angles and Saxons arrived from Denmark and northern continental Europe. These are not areas I associate with sweet chestnut, and a Roman introduction seemed more likely to me. I realised I had no idea what evidence there might be and decided to do some research online. It was an interesting idea to explore and focussing on papers that were freely available I quickly located and downloaded a thesis ‘Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) in Britain: a multi-proxy approach to determine its origins and cultural significance’ by Robin Andrew Jarman (Jarman, 2019). I did read all 57 pages of text but not necessarily the seven pages of references! I thought readers might appreciate a summary of what I discovered. 

Fortunately, the introduction did explain the importance of determining the date of sweet chestnut’s arrival, which I thought interesting but unimportant. Whether sweet chestnut is indigenous, an archaeophyte (an ancient introduction) or a neophyte (a modern one) is a significant question. The question relates to its naturalness, a key function in the Nature Conservation Review 1977 which determines which species should be protected or regarded as invasive; this might become relevant should sweet chestnut blight take hold in this country. 

 The aim of the thesis was to determine:

 When is the earliest verified date for sweet chestnut growing in Britain?

 Whence do the longest-established British sweet chestnut trees derive? 

Does new evidence for antiquity and origins alter the ecological and cultural significance of sweet chestnut in Britain? 

 King’s Wood near Worksop, Sherwood Forest, Sweet Chestnut originally planted
 by the Dukes of Portland.

 I  shall just cover the parts relevant to sweet chestnut’s arrival and any information as to where it may have come from, considering what the evidence is and why Dr Jarman cast doubt on it. The debate on the origin of British sweet chestnut has a long history. John Evelyn considered it non-native and in his 1706 4th edition of Silva suggested a Roman introduction. This became the consensus view of the Royal Society in the 18th century but lacked evidence. Oliver Rackham believed sweet chestnut to be a Roman import, or so I thought. Dr Jarman reveals he worked with Rackham on and off from 1971, and that Rackham had reservations about the species being a Roman introduction. The idea was being quoted and requoted in an academic echo chamber without the primary evidence being checked. It became a ‘factoid’ as Rackham called it (something everyone believes but is not, in fact, true). As I am taking what Dr Jarman has written at face value, I may be contributing to a new ‘factoid’! Dr Jarman has tried to re-examine original archaeological material and interview the researchers. He also visited semi-natural woodlands as well as ancient chestnut trees both alive and dead, to establish its cultural and social significance. A literature review was undertaken, and archaeological archives were reviewed looking for pollen, charcoal, nuts, and timber references prior to 1350 AD. An attempt was made to locate all recorded archived specimens up to 650 AD and to re-evaluate their authenticity with modern techniques. This was carried out in partnership with English Heritage. The thesis was essentially a summary of a number of previously published papers that Dr Jarman had been involved with, usually as lead author. The thesis is divided into four sections: (1) archaeological records, (2) dendrochronology, (3) genetics, and (4) historical ecology. What follows is my understanding of the key points Dr Jarman makes grouped into ‘archaeological records’ and then a combination of the last three sections of his thesis.

 Archaeological records.

 Dr Jarman located 35 archaeological records of archived sweet chestnut material from before 650 AD, i.e. the Roman and post-Roman period. He tried to find and re-examine them physically. For me, the most striking finding was that there were no confirmed records of sweet chestnut pollen prior to 650 AD. There were only two reports of archaeological records of sweet chestnut nut fragments in the pre-medieval period. One was from an excavation at Great Holts Farm in Essex in the 1990s. The find consisted of five fragments of chestnut pericarp found in a Roman well that had been filled with rubble and rubbish. The waterlogged bottom of the well contained organic material including “a few fragments of sweet chestnut nut pericarps, walnuts, hazelnuts, olive stones, grape pips, stone pine nuts, cherry stones, sloe, bullace and apple pips.” Some of these items must have been imported, for what looks like feasting. This cannot be considered good evidence for a local source of chestnuts, not that it had been claimed to be. The other reported sample, from Castle Street in Carlisle, was radiocarbon dated to a much later period. Reports of the sweet chestnut charcoal remains also proved problematic, in part because many of the recorded archived pieces could not be located. There was also a degree of misidentification. Samples recorded as sweet chestnut turned out to be ash or alder, but mainly oak. Small pieces, particularly small branch wood, may be indistinguishable from oak. Oak can confidently be distinguished from sweet chestnut by the presence of multiseriate medullary rays. The problem is that the absence of rays particularly in a small fragment is not proof it is chestnut. Creating fresh surfaces for examination was not possible due to the importance of the specimens. The dating of some samples could not be verified or was confirmed to be inaccurate. Some key samples were from 19th century excavations and their accounts had been regularly requoted but had not been questioned. Reported wood and wooden artefacts were confirmed; however, a writing tablet or a tool handle could easily have been imported. There are waterlogged chestnut stakes and piles from the Alverstone Marshes on the Isle of Wight, which have been carbon dated to the 6th and 9th-10th century, but this study had not been published when Dr Jarman put his thesis together in 2019. There is a possible sweet chestnut pollen grain from Uckington, Gloucestershire that is dated to the 7th century. This with the Alvestone Marshes wood could be the only physical evidence of sweet chestnut products that could have been derived from plantations established in the Roman period. In summary, no definitive archived material could be found to confirm locally grown sweet chestnut in England and Wales during the Roman and immediate post-Roman period. 

Sweet chestnut regenerates freely.

Historical ecology/genetics/ dendrochronology.

 The earliest written record for growing sweet chestnut is in the 12th century (1113 AD), from legal ecclesiastic documents near the current Forest of Dean. It must, therefore, have been established in the 11th century at the latest. There are a number of large ancient sweet chestnut trees on estates and in former deer parks, some shown to be more than 400 years old. Dendrochronology does not take any sweet chestnut back more than a few hundred years; DNA analysis has confirmed ancient clonal coppice stools but provides no date. DNA might provide evidence for where introduced sweet chestnut originated and so provide clues to who introduced it. DNA analysis has been carried out on British and Irish sweet chestnut for comparison with European records. Sweet chestnut along with other flora retreated to refugia ahead of the ice sheets of the Ice Ages. 

Three refugia genepools have been identified. An eastern (E. Turkey and the Caucasus), a central (W. Turkey, Greece and part of the Balkans), and a western (Italy, Spain, Portugal and southern parts of France and Switzerland). DNA samples from England and Wales are from the western area but they represent two separate genepools. These genepools are geographically mixed, suggesting at least two substantial introductions. The older British DNA samples showed some commonality with samples from Portugal to Romania. It is a diverse genepool but whether that is because of multiple introductions or because of mixing on the continent prior to introduction cannot currently be determined. Ancient parkland trees usually came from NW Iberia while plantations <200 years old were more likely to be Italian; one can imagine members of the gentry returning from their grand tour with pockets full of chestnuts! Sweet chestnut does not inform British myth or legend but is often planted in parks or gardens in significant places. It is of considerable economic and practical importance. One of the reasons for calling sweet chestnut an ‘honorary native’ is that it forms ecological associations within semi-natural woodlands, which have been stable for hundreds of years. They are also similar to forest vegetation associations on the continent. My initial reaction to the lack of pollen evidence may have been misplaced. British sweet chestnut pollen samples are very rare from the whole medieval period, Sweet chestnut produces viable seed and naturally regenerates. “If the Romans made a concerted effort to introduce sweet chestnut, there is evidence they failed!”