New plantations

We are planting the last of our trees now and this has included a few new plantations on Uckington Farm - small, previously unused bits of ground that, once planted up, will provide new habitats for birds, bats and all kinds of insects. The largest piece of ground was mown, then last week a team of volunteers helped Colin and I to clear the remaining brambles along the fences, clear the litter that had been thrown into the vegetation from the road (a major bugbear of mine - I love to shove it back through their letter boxes!) and plant up new hedges and trees. We planted a good mix - home-grown oaks, maple, hawthorn, ash, guelder rose, norway spruce and scots pine. We gave each tree a good watering to help it settle in - it was a scorching hot day for March! Soon we will put a good layer of mulch around each plant too. Everyone worked extremely hard that day, digging in very stony soils, so thank you to everyone involved!

Arriving on site armed with brashing hooks, spades and a lot of trees...

Several hundred trees later!

Back in the Park, thousands of seeds from the cedars of lebanon have been blown across the lawn leading down to the river - we will wait and see if we get any seedlings and transplant them to the nursery to grow on as replacement trees. Our cedars are unfortunately past their prime and many of them have rot inside, which is why they are fenced off with railings to prevent anyone from walking beneath.

The future cedars of Attingham Park?

And finally, an elusive Attingham heron update! I've seen it many times over the last year but never with my camera to hand; this time I had just put the camera away when he flapped up across the the river from where I was standing. Typical! I frantically scrambled for the on-switch while he circled over me, and just managed to capture him swooping off into the distance. One day I will get that close up picture...