The Back Dane Miniforest – An Interim Report (Easter 2005)

Way back in the last Century, it was decided, for various reasons, to afforest part of our ground at Back Dane.  Accordingly, an area of 0.47 hectares was eventually set aside for this purpose and, in 1993, duly fenced off.  A Forestry Commission grant was then sought to pay for the trees.  Due to various hiccups (ours and theirs) this was not received until 1998.  Thus, early in 1999 we purchased 1,200 assorted trees of eight species in the proportions determined by the Forestry Commission.  As it happened we’d picked an extremely wet weekend for this.  Because of the incessant heavy rain we rapidly dug two trenches, temporarily planted all our trees in them and retired to somewhere more hospitable, leaving the trees to wait for better weather.  On our next two weekend visits to Back Dane the weather was much improved and we were able to steadily replant the trees over the entire field, staking protective tubes around them as we went.
Of course the Forestry Commission doesn’t give out grants without imposing conditions on them.  In our case we had to plant the trees at a density of 2,500 per hectare in a mix determined by them as being representative of the natural woodland cover for the area.  Also at least 44 per cent of them should be alive ten years after planting.  Not meeting these conditions could result in our having to repay the grant.

Having finally planted the trees, we then had to protect them.  Our first indication, that our measures were not adequate, was noticing that several trees, poking above their tubes, had been chewed.  We realized that while our fencing was sufficient to keep sheep and cattle out of our afforested area, it wasn’t adequate to prevent the local deer from getting in.  In fact, one weekend we discovered a young fallow deer (Dama dama) hiding at the bottom of the field.  Apparently female deer often leave their young in a place of safety during the day whilst going off to browse.  While it had got in without any apparent difficulty, it was unable to jump over our fences to get out again.  We had to cut the fence in one corner and drive it out through the break.  This caused much amusement to one of the local residents, who had turned up towards the end of this episode.  He complained about “townies” not knowing what they are doing in the countryside.  After this incident we erected old bus stop poles (courtesy of Nottingham Transport) around the field and strung two stands of wire – one at head-height, the other about 40 centimetres higher – across them in an attempt to make the fencing more “deer resistant.”
Since then we have had little trouble with the local wildlife.  A few unprotected trees were nibbled at the bases by rabbits, but by now they are now mostly too tough for the rabbits to be interested.  The damage done to the trees since then has been almost entirely human and, unfortunately, it is still happening.  Ever since we first planted them, some people have been wandering through the field snapping the tops off trees protruding above their protective tubing.  Normally this seems to have been done by someone mindlessly breaking off occasional branches as they walked through the trees, damaging no more than about a dozen or so.  However, in the summer of 2004 there was a particularly bad incident when dozens of trees were severely damaged in this manner.  Another problem we have, is people removing stakes from the tubes to use as kindling for bonfires.  This has happened more than once and, again in 2004, we suffered very badly from this when two to three hundred were removed.  In calm weather this doesn’t matter too much but, as everyone who has been to Back Dane knows, it can be a very windy place and the forces generated on the sides of these tubes is considerable.  In some cases it has been sufficient to flatten the trees – much to the delight of the local rabbits, which are then able to eat the shoots protruding from the tubes.  Apart from these occurrences, we have twice had the fences deliberately cut, but in both cases repaired the damage before any apparent harm was done to the trees.
However, in spite of all the problems we have faced, we still have far more trees then we need to meet the Forestry Commission’s target.  We have, perhaps, lost some ten to fifteen per cent of them.  However, we now have more Blackthorn than we started with.  Because of their thorns, they have not needed much protection and they started flowering as early as the year after we planted them.  In a few, favourable sites, seeds from them, in more resent years, have produced new trees.  As yet these trees are quite spindly and might not survive, but it is an encouraging sign.  While they are not yet flourishing to the same extent, our Hawthorns are also doing well.  However, the species that is currently doing best is the Birch.  In the more favourable spots, some of them have already grown to a height of three metres with a diameter of about eight centimetres at their base.  During the last few springs they have been producing catkins.  Some of our Hazel trees are also flourishing well.  Being a smaller tree they have not grown anything like as much as our birches.  However, like the birches, they have also been producing catkins.  In 2004 a few of them started producing nuts – of rather nutshells, the nuts inside did not develop as these trees are, as yet, too immature, but many are now taking on the characteristic bushy shape of this species.  Our Wild Cherry trees survive, but without any spectacular spurts of growth.  The two types of Ash are also slow growing, tending to go for height rather than girth.  (Unfortunately this makes them a favourite target for having their tops snapped off.)  Our Oaks are the slowest growing of all at the moment.  They springs into life much later in the year than the others – in fact, it’s often late May before it’s possible to be certain they are still alive and didn’t die off during the winter.   Unfortunately they have been infested from the start with the parasitic wasp that cause them to form protective oak apples.
A bonus from fencing off this area is that wild flowers can thrive in it.  Until a couple of years ago, one of the local farmers was stocking the land quite heavily with sheep and cows, which were eating everything in sight.  Wild flowers stood little chance of flourishing.  Within our field they can now grow to their normal height and we are now beginning to see more butterflies.  Although, so far, only two species are seen in any abundance.  In mid-spring, the attractive Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) is, in some years, present in large numbers.  Only the males have orange tips, the females lack them, but otherwise their markings are similar.  In summer, the Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) is usually present in sizeable numbers.  In calm conditions both species can be seen over most of our afforested field.  In windy conditions they confine themselves to the lower parts, which are less windswept.  Although half-a-dozen other species have been observed, they have yet to appear in any large numbers.  Hopefully as the years go by the numbers of butterfly species will increase and, as the trees become bigger, they should also start becoming home to the smaller species of birds.  Despite all the problems we have encountered, our trees are doing well, and one day we should have a woodland area that all can enjoy.