Manaccan

After the High Wood Summer Fair in Liskeard, trustees Phil and Julian popped down to the Lizard to see how this young woodland is coming along.

Caleb the farm manager gave them both a tour around the site, proudly pointing out all the amazing orchids, self-seeded oak saplings, and other projects he’s working on around the farm, on the way to our trees.

Across the four sections, survival ranged from 85% at best, to 60.1% at worst. The trouble with that 60.1% parcel seems to be dense bracken shading out the saplings, and deer figuring out how to slide the guards off the trees and eat the saplings within. Thankfully this section is small (just 19% of the planting) and the remaining 81% of the woodland parcels are all above the 80% survival rate we aim to achieve.

For now, nothing here needs to be done, the trees are growing happily and many are a long way out of their guards. Some weeding and strimming will be done by the farmer. We’ll be back to restock any parcels falling below 80% in winter, as well as fight the bracken.

Protect Earth contacted the landowner to find out how our newly planted trees had coped with the hot, dry summer this year. We were very pleased to hear that the landowner was able to report a very satisfactory 81% survival rate, and that many of the trees were growing well out of their guards.

We’re eager to get down there and take a look ourselves, but with such positive results we’ll be focusing our energy on other sites for now. We will carry out a priority survey next year to ensure that the trees continue to do well.

The landowner here was incredibly welcoming, even going to far as to offer free overnight accommodation for volunteers for up to three nights so that people could volunteer on one day and also have a short holiday. Free meals were also provided to those volunteering on that day.

We planted 90% trees and 10% shrubs over a 1.38 hectare site in groups of 8-10 species clusters with some small clearings to allow for regeneration. Alder and aspen were planted in the wetter areas with goat willow on the periphery, and the other species were planted in the drier areas and on the edges. Oaks were planted throughout the site.

Disappointingly, not all our volunteers turned up, but with the landowner’s friends and family, and our volunteers who did turn up, we were still able to finish in good time on the second day.

The landowner was really pleased: “Planting the trees was a great experience and I have walked around the fields 3 times before leaving yesterday after lunch. It will be fascinating to watch the changes as the trees grow and see the different wildlife it brings. Let’s hope our resident deer don't eat too many! The whole thing was amazing, so thank you to all of you at Protect Earth!”