Tree Planting Season Begins


Last year it was 5000 trees on 11 acres at Banks and this year the plan is for some 2500 trees to be planted on a field off Becconsall Lane in Hesketh Bank. The saplings were delivered this morning so now it is race against time to get the bare rooted plants into the ground before they dry out.

Planting trees in Hesketh Bank
Planting trees in Hesketh Bank

As the ground is still very very wet, the trees, stakes and guards have all been moved onto site with the low ground pressure trailer and a compact tractor.

Ready to go - tree planting 2017Ready to go – tree planting 2017

As we passed the recently restored ‘bomb hole’ pond, two Snipe got up from the rushes on the pond edge . I have not seen snipe in these fields for the twenty two years we have been here so that was noteworthy.

Preparing for tree planting
Preparing for tree planting

Distributing the stakes and tree guards around the plot without doing damage is very difficult when it is so wet. Our small compact tractor with grass tyres was again used but this time with some pallet forks fitted rather than a trailer. To minimise the impact the front weights were removed which meant additional trips but really did minimise the ruts left. After the next (seemingly inevitable) downpour there was little evidence left of a tractor being on the field.

Winter 2017/18 Tree planting at Becconsall Lane, Hesketh Bank
Winter 2017/18 Tree planting at Becconsall Lane, Hesketh Bank

It will be 10-15 years before this new coppice plantation will become productive so it is not a short term project.  It will eventually provide a source of timber for traditional woodland crafts, wood chunks for flavoured smoke for food smokers and BBQ’s (WoodChunks.co.uk), fuel for wood fired pizza ovens and firewood (CarbonNeutralFuel.co.uk) but, in the mean time, the growing trees will store carbon, will provide a home for wildlife, absorb air pollution, help reduce water flow/flood risk into the Douglas and Ribble and help river water quality by absorbing any nitrogen run off from the sheep grazing on the higher land.