Many hands make light work

Today for me every thing has turned full circle. Last year I went out and helped collect some of the acorns from the wood. I rather rashly agreed to look after them in the back yard of my house. And in spite of hoards of ravenous corvidae a good number survived.

It was in fact the third activity I had carried out with the Friends of Chopwell Wood, and it makes me realise just what a remarkable year it has been for me. Last year I would never have expected to be elected to a committee position nor to have re-found my link with the natural world, all this because of a small wood that happens to be right on my doorstep.

Today quite literally I was able to give something back to that wood, in the form of baby oak trees. Fortunately I was not alone as we had a good number of volunteers arrived from Newcastle University Conservation club. The majority were planted and those that were not can be planted as two-year-old trees next year.

It was remarkable that the place chosen for the planting was clear felled about eight years ago, but remarkably it is regenerating quite well anyway and with oak too. That actually made it quite challenging to find the space to plant our seedlings the four to five metres apart we were aiming for. But I must say that the volunteers did a fantastic job and at least two thirds of the trees were planted and we did it without loosing a single volunteer. What is even more remarkable is that they want to come back.

So from the Mouse in the Wood;

Three cheers for Newcastle University Conservation Club.