Renewal of paths and woodland

I had a change of scenery at work recently when Mark, who is the ranger over at Buttermere, asked me to go over to check the condition of some footpaths for him.  He has already found some paths that have quite a lot of isolated pockets of flood damage that will need a lot of work to repair them. I checked out some of the others.  Fortunately, I didn’t find anything too serious.  Repairing path damage is something we prefer to do as early as possible because their condition can deteriorate very quickly if we don’t.  I did enjoy the opportunity to walk the paths alongside Buttermere.

Whilst I was over there, I also took the opportunity to check out some forestry clear-felling.  This is an area of softwood that was originally planted as a crop in the days when this country needed to replenish its wood supplies.  Large areas of the country were planted up with fast-growing conifers after the woodland depletion caused by the demands of World War 1.  For a number of reasons, ideas about forest management have changed since then and as these older forests are being felled, they are being replanted with a mix of hardwood species. 

In this first stage of clear-felling, it just looks like devastation but that will soon be softened with the regeneration of natural vegetation and the new mixed woodland will host a greatly increased range of native flora and fauna.  The older conifer forests were mono-cultures and were often planted so densely that very little grew on the forest floor.  So, although it looks a bit dramatic now, it is all being done in the interests of conservation.

It’s Daisy again.

 Roy’s been ill.  That’s boring. 

Sunny’s been to stay again. That’s great.  

I’m a lot faster than he is now.