Woodland Trust Trees - we make a start on planting them

This week we had been hoping that the older children from Winkleigh Primary School would come to plant some trees donated by the Woodland Trust with funding from Sainsburys.  Unfortunately, this was cancelled at the last minute, due to the need for minimising social contact with others.  So a few adults gathered on Tuesday and again today (Saturday), despite a very cold wind.  We were careful to space ourselves apart to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19.

The first tree to be planted was a Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica), which needed a larger hole.  Philip got to work with the mattock to clear the ground. This Beech tree was donated by a Winkleigh resident, for which we are grateful.

Using  mattock to clear the grass

The soil is wet from heavy rain, but the other small trees were easy enough to pop into a slot made with a spade.

We have now planted approximately 35 Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus), a shrub which provides food for the caterpillars of the Brimstone butterfly.  Let's hope we can start of colony of these beautiful yellow creatures, which are usually on the wing from March until August.  The females are a pale green, and are sometimes mistaken for Large White.  They lay single eggs on the tips of the twigs, sometimes even before the leaves open in April.  The caterpillar chews tiny holes in the leaf, so it is quite easy to spot them, even though they are exactly the same green as the leaf.  These shrubs were funded by the newly-formed Winkleigh Environment Group.

In addition we planted 15 Hazel and 10 Field Maple.  We are now reaching a situation where most of the spiral hedgerow has plants spaced approximately 1-2 metres apart.  The next phase will be to maintain the area and keep the grass from choking the smaller trees.

Volunteers braving the chill Easterly wind

The leaves are appearing on Hawthorn and Wild Cherry, and some on the Willow.  The first blossom is also just opening on the Cherry.

Wild Cherry planted in 2014

Our next planting is on Sunday 29th March, and we are hoping for warmer weather.  We still have Hawthorn, Downy Birch, Goat Willow to plant.