Trees in bloom

The small orchard at the 'Top Field' is blooming marvellous, it looks to be a good crop of apples from the older bramley tree and the youngsters are eager not to be shown up too with some of them holding tight to the first signs of a crop. The Williams pear looks a bit sad though and my recent absence (in China) has meant I couldn't step in to lend a helping hand - hopefully it will pull through as the blossom display was particularly promising.

The bees are manic, we've had three swarms.....two of which we managed to retain but alas had to let the oldest queen take her gang and leave the orchard - I feel it was her time to go really, she's been around for three years now. Farewell and thankyou for all that yummy honey!!

Trees in bloom

Eucan, well, I did anyhow.

A little while back in the summer I was presented the opportunity by the Wiltshire Orchard Project to head off to Belgium for two weeks paid learning holiday. The deal was simple, participate in Europom '09 - a celebration of Europe's fruit, in particular apples and pears. Thousands of spherical bundles of joy were presented for beard strokers to browse through. The 18 (or so) strong team of Blighty volunteers were on hand to photograph each sample to be recorded for prosterity....and of course taste samples were an unofficial perk.

The remainding time was spent in the competant hands of Paul, our mentor and all round great chap. His 27 years of orchard management experience flowed like the juice of a million apples and we lapped....er....shall we say he gave a good show on pruning apples and other techniques.

We were free most evenings to sample the vast range of Belgium beers on offer and for two weeks nothing less passed my lips...cider had to take a back seat for a while, the Belgians appeared to be non-plussed when it came to good ol' scrumpy, it seems to be the great unmentionable in that neck of the world!

In return for days of pruning, apple collecting, photgraphy and cooking we return the honour by volunteering for a couple of days in an orchard related theme. Also, a written report on the holiday will be submitted.

This experience has been great and like the time I spent in Germany has strongly fixed my conservation sights on great ideas. A few of which are taking shape and are beginning to....fruit, I suppose!

Eucan, well, I did anyhow.

Lateral thinking

The annual Tree Warden Forum (under the Tree Council) took an eager bunch to the Bathurst Estate in Gloucestershire. This mighty Oak adjacent to the polo grounds on the estate had fantastic lateral limbs extending left and right.






Also on the estate are some classic 'gun barrel' beech trees. They gain the 'gun' name from the near perfect straight stems extending high into the canopy. These were some of the finest I've seen and possibly some of the best in the country.






So great were the beech trees that a series of large sheets were laid out to collect fallen seeds. These seeds are gathered to form part of the bank of a national collection of trees. Saplings grown from this resource are ensured to be native and from good stock...providing the squirrels don't get there first!



Take a look at the video below:

Lateral thinking

Back from the woods......

It's been a long time since I've been on this site and after a few years of wandering the wilderness I think it's high time I collected my thoughts and submit a few more experiences.

I'll be back to continue the saga soon............

Back from the woods......

Exmoor red deer

The stag, a young one

The hinds, suspecting something is not quite right

The amazing row of beech - these are positioned along the traditional bank and wall field boundaries.

October took me to Exmoor for the red deer rut. The weather had been incredibly mild over the past few weeks which didn't give high hopes of seeing any red deer fighting action - the colder weather brings the hinds down from the moor peaks and thus the horny males follow.

We pulled up at a good site at about 6am when it was just gettin glight and as soon as the car engine stopped running we could hear the bellow of the males echoing over the valley.

We came close on numerous occasions to groups of deer, but alas no actual scrapping. In the distance we could hear the clash of antlers and the continuous roars but could not get close enough. Still, it was an excellent experience of which I am keen to experience again next year.

Exmoor red deer

The Giant Chestnut

Back in June 2007 a small group of us visited Dinton park near Salisbury, Wiltshire. The grounds were owned by National Trust and we were kindly shown around by the warden.

One of the highlights was this fantastic Sweet Chestnut tree in the grounds of a private dwelling on the site. The girth of the monster was a massive 9.70 metres and as you can see from the photos all of us stood next to it look dwarfed! The tree is in healthy condition and new growth can be seen reaching for the sky on the upper limbs. It is interesting that the tree does so well as just out of shot is another equally impressive beech tree which does not seem to pose a threat to the chesnut at all....remarkable. I entered this baby on the Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Hunt website.

Check it out http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/

The Giant Chestnut

Bring on the tears

The spuds are out...the onions are in. Lets hope they fair better...not too many things like to devour onions. By spring the first crop should be ready for an early years salad. The fleece is for added protection if the frosts ever return here. Already (after 2 weeks) the onions have sprouted and have put on about 4 inches in growth.

Bring on the tears