Low Fell

It was a good 10-minute walk from the nearest layby, through narrow paths and ascending into the bracken before we reached the first area of planted land. Standing and looking over the ascending fell, an area where 150,000 trees were planted (10,000 of which were Protect Earth), the enormity of the project became clear.

As we were ascending, you could already see the impact of removing the grazing sheep from this land; a spate of self-seeded cherry trees were thriving above the bracken canopy. Many trees have already surpassed the canopy height, especially the silver birches, rowan, and some oak. Sally and Darren, members of the CIC pointed out that they are doing particularly well when clustered together due to their mycorrhizal networks supporting each other’s growth.

We had to ascend with care, navigating lost trails because hidden under all this dense bracken were thousands of saplings yet to come up over the canopy. They had chosen not to plant with tree guards, partly due to the cost and difficulty of bringing materials to this remote site, but also because they didn't want to bring plastic onto the land, which creates a visible dissonance with the green landscape. Initially criticised for their decision under the assumption that it would be to the detriment of the new trees, Sally and Darren have begun to see just how supportive the bracken actually is.

Firstly, it acts as shade, protecting the establishing saplings from the heat of the summer sun. It also creates a physical barrier around the trees, deterring deer from entering the dense vegetation. When the bracken dies back in autumn, it creates a natural mulch, and Sally and Darren have begun noticing second growth spurts in the saplings by October. Sally noted that you especially see this with the oaks, shown off by their red autumnal leaves.

We ascended about two-thirds of the way up, looking towards the more resilient montane species planted near the peak of the fell. Sally and Darren have a close relationship with the landowners managing the land and riparian edges beneath the fell. Together, they have established a thriving, species-rich nature corridor, and they have noticed swallows and migratory swifts coming further inland since the planting began.

The landowners checked the saplings after the earlier drought, and most of the trees were fine. There was some drought shock, but a lot of them have been re-growing from the roots in previous years and there’s reason to believe these few that were struggling will do the same. Most of them seemed to be doing well but with the bracken so high in summer checks will need to be done in early spring.

When we went to check them in July we found the vegetation extremely thick. We fought our way through the wet bracken but it was impossible to find anything in this huge valley, and getting around it was even harder. As it was so wet and difficult to access we decided to come back and search another day.

The team returned in September and found only five dead cell-grown aspen that had been planted in the grass, which had evidently dried out more than the bracken area. These were the only dead trees we saw. Other trees growing amongst the bracken that had been drought stressed and dropped their leaves still had live stems, and a number had sprouted new growth from the base.

Low Fell is a huge and fascinating woodland creation project in the spectacular Lake District of northwest England. Large swathes of these northern hills were once wooded before intense grazing pressures altered the natural woodland cycle of this area. The current state of the land is very poor for agriculture; overgrazed, upland hill country, that should be covered in a variety of hardy native broadleaf trees and shrubs but has been over grazed. It's currently an ecologically degraded and botanically poor ecosystem dominated by a limited number of grass and rush species and bracken.

The plan here – which is well underway – is to reforest the hills with hundreds of thousands of trees for the climate, for wildlife and for people (much of the area is open access land).

We became a part of this wonderful initiative by donating 10,000 trees towards the project. We sent the bare root whips as soon as possible in November so that their tree planters could get them into the ground as soon as possible, giving the trees the best chance to become established during the winter months. They were planted without stakes and guards for a more natural appearance.