Tuesday 21st Sept 2021
Today was spent on and around the Atlantic Plateau at Cairn Wood. A small area raised with clay from else where. Originally planted with Atlantic cedar, Wild Service, Birch and Eucalypts in 2016. The job for the day was to cut down the Thistles, Willow herb, Teasel, and Nettles and find the trees. The area has been rather neglected since the trees established. Deer have browsed the Cedars in particular and only one is significantly taller than the 70 cm tree guards. The birch have been frayed and suffered from drought. All the trees have suffered from the competition from the Herb layer, illustrating why trees take a long time to establish on a fertile site. All the trees were around 2 feet tall when planted so seedlings would have had no chance. The Eucalypts got above the herb layer early and have rocketed away. They were sown November 2015 so will actually be a year younger than the other trees.
When the weeds were cut down there were more trees than I had thought. Six were missing completely but there were six Cedars which had been invisible. They were only as tall as the guards but should recover, if I can extend the guards. The problem at the moment is the ground is too hard to get a cane in. As they were protected by high unpleasant weeds and there were no tracks through it, I had assumed deer had been going round it. There were also two forgotten Japanese Red Cedars which had been planted to replace Atlantic Cedars which had died.
Atlantic Plateau at Cairn Wood
The Eucalypts have some seed pods, When they are ripe I will cut off the branches and collect the seed. If the seed is viable then the trees can come down. They make excellent fire logs. They need to come out to give the other trees a chance, and soon to reduce the collateral damage when they do!
Why is it when I know I am going into 5’ high nettles I wear a short sleeved shirt?
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