by Roxane Pirbonyeh
Last weekend we collaborated with the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum and carried out some fun and worthwhile tree planting conservation work.
We were met at Rayner’s Lane in North London on a cold, sunny morning by Stephen Bolsover, a member of HNCF and a Professor Emeritus at UCL. It was really encouraging to see some new members eager to help out. We then made the short walk to Newton Farm Ecology Park, an area of wood and grassland in the middle of a residential area.
We started the day digging up roughly 2-year-old field maple saplings at two different sites within the park, for relocation to Stanmore County Park, which is also in Harrow. We dug up about 50 saplings in total. Digging was a lot of effort and some trees did not want to come out of the ground, though we quickly perfected our digging techniques! We then wrap the trees and some surrounding soil into brown paper for sage transportation. As it is wintertime, the saplings can be moved and survive to grow later on in the year.
While we were working, we were visited by a curious robin, attracted by the disturbed worms. We also saw a fox running through the grass and some long tailed tits. As we worked, Stephen gave us little titbits of information about the trees in the park, such as that cherry trees can be recognised by the horizontal banding on their bark. We then loaded up cars with the field maple saplings and made the journey to Stanmore Country Park.
We arrived at the top of the park, with a beautiful view of the park and the rest of London. The brilliant sunshine made it quite warm, so we had a pleasant lunch and hot drinks on the porch of the Old Dairy. Here we saw a kestrel hovering over the trees. It was really nice to spend time with people with similar interests as me!
We loaded up three wheelbarrows with the saplings, and picked up 200 oak and hazel saplings, and virtual birch (sticks to represent birch for when it will be planted later in the year). We made our way down the muddy hill to the woodland clearings. The woodland in this part of Stanmore Country Park is secondary woodland, and so all the trees are of a similar age. We were planting the saplings to improve the age structure of the woodland, by increasing variation in the age of the trees.
We planted the saplings at 2m intervals, to make sure they wouldn’t be competing with each other for resources. Planting the trees was a lot easier than digging them up! Once the saplings were planted in the ground, they were wrapped in plastic tubing supported by a bamboo stick, to prevent them from being eaten by muntjac found in the park, before they had a chance to grow.
After planting the saplings, Stephen showed us the acid grassland next to the clearings. This habitat is rare in England, and so it was a treat to see. It had a lot of gorse and Yellow Hill Ant nests.
As it was getting dark, we headed back towards to the station, muddy and happy from a day working in nature and aiding conservation. I really enjoyed this bit of conservation and to work with everyone, and I hope to take part in similar projects in the future!
