There are over 8500 trees that surround the site which were planted in 2007 with the support of the Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust.  We planted them ourselves with a contractor overseeing it all and our local village primary school came and helped plant one section too.  There are ten different varieties of trees planted in the woodland. Unforunately at the time we planted a number of Ash trees which then later developed Ash Die Back a disease that is slowly destroying this species of tree around the country.   Squirrels have also damaged lots of trees, they like any species! They are eating around the top part of the main trunk of many of the trees and then the tree breaks off.  Deer have eaten quite a few too!   We decided to have a Woodland Manage Plan drawn up with working alongside the YDMT.

The trees needed thinning out so they fill out more and aren't as spindly searching for light in the woodland.  Again, with the help of the Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust over the last couple of weeks the contractor who helped with the planting came to thin out the woodland.  The trees that were chopped down have the brash stacked and heaped to create habitat piles around the woodland. These heaps of wood provide places for wildlife to rest, roost, nest, perch, feed, shelter, stay dry, hunt, and evade predators.  The larger pieces of wood we shall allow to season then burn on our log burner.  

Later this winter will see us replant some replacement trees in the bare sections that had the ash trees removed, this is called under planting.

Photos show the new planting over 15 years ago and the contractor in the wood last month.