I was up at Outwoods for a ‘green gym’ session. Normally it runs on Wednesday mornings, when I tend to be busy, but it got shifted this week and I jumped at the chance to take part. This morning’s task was planting trees.

Planting trees in an established woodland? Isn’t that like taking coals to Newcastle? No, because there are lots of different types of trees. My impression is that a lot of the coniferous trees in the area were planted after the Second World War as a relatively quick growing source of wood, replacing a more native mix. I don’t know whether some use was made of that timber but it certainly hadn’t been harvested for sometime. Now the management plan is to revert to trees like hazel and oak and large swathes of conifers have been mechanically removed.

Anyway, that’s why my morning involved working in a team to dig slits in the ground, insert oak whips (young, bare-rooted plants) and then protect them with stakes and temporary covers. I should see the trees establish but I’m unlikely to be around long enough to see them in their full glory. Of course, every time I enjoy walking through an established grove of oaks, beech or other trees in an area that has been more carefully managed that might be first assumed, I owe that to past generations who themselves took time to plant trees they would never see full-grown.