The New Plantation Comes of Age
It’s been nearly five years since this section of the conifer plantation was felled and replanted. Now it seems the 1100 saplings have suddenly reached adolescence to form a youthfully vigorous, broadleaf woodland.
The plan to leave plenty of clearings and let the understorey thrive seems to have paid off. Numerous insects, birds and mammals are now making it their home including this beautiful, silver-washed fritillary.
In ecology this is called the ‘edge effect’, that transitional space between woodland and grassland, and the rules are simple: go easy on the strimmer and there’s no such thing as a weed. Well.. except rhododendron and bracken obviously!
