More Havoc

 

February 2022

The car thermometer read 11^oC on leaving home. On arrival at Gibside it had gone up a degree. Historically, the average high for February around here is 7^oC; the low is 1^oC. For a while now things haven’t been what they used to be, and today was seeing the build up to yet another unseasonal storm. Dennis would be a good name for a storm: Dennis the Menace. But this is Storm Dudley. The only Dudley I ever knew was rather a timid man and a bit boring but, it should be said, nice with it. Certainly not up to flattening a row of fifteen metre trees, though.

The work begins

The extent of the carnage

We were above Snipes Dene where the Gibside estate borders a farm field clearing the damage done by Storms A, B and M. Well-practiced in destruction, the job of we volunteers was to lop off the side branches of fallen trees so that Rangers Steve and Dan could get in and hack up the trunks with chain saws and make a lot of noise. Fallen trees are often left where they fall except when presenting a danger or blocking a track or pathway. These trees had toppled into the neighbour’s field, so needed shifting.

Branches removed, celebrated with a rainbow

We piled branches and brash to create a dead hedge along the fence line. Much of the wire fence had long since deteriorated or disappeared, but a line of fence posts remained to guide us. With logs from the chopped up trunk of one tree we built a log pile and took the opportunity to reminisce about our early days in the conservation team.

A new logpile

There are deer tracks in a few places down through the sloping wood to the people track, but it’s otherwise not a good place for bio-diversity. The trees here are Corsican pine which, as the name suggests, are not native to the Derwent Valley. Single species, non-native woodland tends to be a bit sterile, but fringe woodland is invariably a good place for a little natural variety. The margin of the field falls sharply to the boundary, so is left uncultivated. Log piles and dead hedges are good for encouraging wildlife; woodland fringes are better.

Elsewhere - signs that Spring is on it's way

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne

A New Year Begins

 

Hedging

19^th January 2022

The “A-Team” was divided into 2 groups to begin today’s task - hedging. Group 1 headed off to the Walled Garden to begin digging up hawthorn bushes. These had been bought as whips 2 years ago, then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and they were planted out in the Walled Garden as volunteering came to a halt.

Meanwhile Group 2 headed off to the edge of a field way above the farm, the highest point on the Gibside Estate. The task here was to dig holes alongside the fence in readiness for the hawthorn bushes when they arrived.

The view across The Derwent Valley

The Farm

The fence and the ditch - the site for the hedge

Digging the holes in readiness for hedge planting.

By mid-morning there were enough bushes to begin the planting process. The bushes had grown well and had decent roots, and once planted they were protected with a plastic cover to protect them from animals and the elements.

The end of a hard day's work

By the end of the day, we had planted about half a field’s length of bushes in a double row. The remainder is to be planted at a later date.

After the Storm

26^th January 2022

Storm Malik hit the North East on Saturday 19^th January causing considerable damage to many trees on the Gibside Estate and elsewhere.

Damaged trees on The Avenue

And on The Hollow Walk

Our task was to remove branches from fallen pine trees just past the Column. A bit of déjà vu here as we had done a similar job after Storm Arwen, which hit the North east in November.

More fallen trees near The Column

Ranger Steve gets to work with a chainsaw

Side branches were removed and made into habitat piles thus enabling the rangers to cut up the trunks into logs with chainsaws. 

Many of the side branches have been removed.
Now awaiting the chainsaw treatment.

Phil Coyne