Winkleigh Biodiversity

Winter is ending...how are the trees?

This question is on our lips, as Spring is just around the corner.  So I went today to look at our tiny whips and check the rabbit spirals.  The ring of 8 silver birches by the Allotments are beginning to sprout green shoots.  The row of rowans by the tennis courts are still standing, but it looks like the sheep have escaped their enclosure at some point, by the dung on the ground.

The oak and cherry trees on the Mound are also still standing, but half the canes and spirals were not.  There have been sheep grazing up there, and either they knocked them over, or the wind blew them - or a combination of both.  We need to think about protecting them from sheep in future.  Thankfully, only one tree showed signs of damage from an opportunist rabbit.  The leaves on the Cherry are starting to open.

Here is a photograph of the vegetation on the Mound last May.  This reminds us that our trees will need to be kept well clear of competing growth.  So the next thing to organise is some weed-clearing to make sure they survive.