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.
