South Lodge

Two corporate teams joined and got the work done in short order, leaving us time in the afternoon to tidy up some of the long grass. In addition to the saplings we planted, another 100+ self-seeded oaks joined in! They were all heavily browsed by deer and looked more like short shrubs than oak trees. Now these struggling oak saplings are guarded and will be able to thrive as part of our woodland.

Of the original 1,500 planted, we recorded a 56.5% survival rate. With 500 replanted and 100 naturally occurring that brings us back to 1,250, which is a cracking result!

South Lodge had a rough start, with a survival rate of 56% by our first survey.

The landowner reported that of the 1,075 trees initially planted, we suffered 488 losses, giving a survival rate of 54.6%. Angus popped back to double check their numbers and recorded a similar result at 56.4%.

Early maintenance issues were identified, including cardboard guards that had completely fallen apart (and some even being eaten by deer). These guards were later replaced with the plastic recyclable guards, which we don’t like using but are forced to as the alternatives do not work at all.

Despite the establishment challenges, the site is already showing encouraging ecological activity. Observations included butterflies, bees, ladybirds, European hornets and a range of aquatic insects, indicating developing habitat value.

The planting area sits adjacent to ancient woodland, so open space has been retained along the boundary to support natural regeneration. Significant numbers of Blackthorn were also included in the scheme as a key food-plant for the rare Brown Hairstreak Butterfly, which is known to occur in the wider area.