Trip reports

Conservation work at Fleet Pond

Sunday, 11 February 2007

We went to Farnham Park on Sunday expecting to be pulling up saplings, but it was too muddy and we told we would be planting trees instead which sounded even better. After a bit of a walk, we came to an area of bracken where the ranger had set out stakes. He explained that we were planting hazel, which would help crowd out the bracken which is not as good for wildlife as hazel and the hazel would also provide wood for fencing by coppicing it.

To plant the trees we had to dig a half metre square and pull out all the bracken roots so the trees wouldn't have to compete for water and nutrients. This was the hardest part because the roots went for miles beneath the surface. Then we had to plant the tree at the right depth so it didn't rot or dry out, firm it in with our feet and give it the 'tug test' (giving it a gentle tug to see if it came out or not).

Next we put a black square mat around the tree and hammered in a stake alongside it. We then used the spade to tuck the edges of the mat into the soil.

Finally, we put mesh around the tree and stake, securing it with cable ties, so that our friends the deer didn't have a munch on the newly planted saplings. We planted 50 trees as a group, of which I planted 7. It looked very impressive when we had finished, and I'm really looking forward to going back and seeing how our mini wood is doing.

Trip report by Claire Allen