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