July 2018
Snipes
Dene is thriving. It must be some eight or nine years ago since much of the
valley was laid waste by the removal of the Forestry Commission’s timber crop.
A large part of that crop was western hemlock – a fast growing North American
import. That’s good for business perhaps but, for Gibside Rangers and us
volunteers, it’s just another non-native, invasive species to control. And
that’s a battle. Over the intervening years, we must have pulled up tens of
thousands of western hemlock saplings. There will be more battles ahead, but
it’s safe to say the war is won.
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Snipes Dene regeneration |
In the summer
of 2011 we selected a section of the Dene to survey and, over the next few
years attempted to monitor its regeneration. At the start, this was a leisurely
enough pursuit. The ground was largely free of cover, and provided with some
substantial tree stumps on which to drink coffee, eat sandwiches, and study
nature. Our survey area was roughly demarcated by a few oak, beech, birch and
sycamore which had been left standing. Along with existing holly and alder, all
had soon produced saplings. Broom, gorse and rowan were early colonisers too,
together with patches of stinging nettles, red campion, ling, bilberry and lots
of foxgloves. For the best part though, the ground remained bare, its decaying
wood seemingly only populated by hordes of spiders. Quite what they were eating
was a mystery; there wasn’t even an ant or woodlouse to be seen.
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New Rowan trees |
Two years
later, we recorded many more touches of colour, and grasses, rushes, bramble
and raspberry were well established. In the summer of 2015 we gave up; the site
had become impenetrable. Elsewhere in the Dene the rate of regeneration had
been patchy, and had been boosted by the planting of a good mix of native
broadleaf. Although we still have to get in there and cut out the persistent
western hemlock and rhododendron, today Snipes Dene is a fine wooded valley.
And so it should be: along with much of Gibside, it is a designated Site of
Special Scientific Interest.
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Ladybird larva |
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Adult Ladybird |
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Common blue butterfly seen in Hollow Walk |
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Small skipper butterfly |
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A friendly pair of blue damselflies |
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Once again the walled garden is bursting with colourful blooms |
Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne
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