There are still places available for this WOODNET event—please see details below. If you can come we would love to see you (or a colleague) and you can book here: Woodland creation in South West Northumberland Tickets, Wed 25 Sep 2024 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
Meeting point: We will assemble at Newbrough Town Hall at 10:00am so that we can use their facilities if need be—there are no facilities at the woodland sites.
Location: NE47 5AR, What3words///cocktail.grower.
Agenda:
10:00am Assemble at Newbrough Town Hall and organise into fewer cars to reduce traffic—parking is limited at both sites.
10:20am Proceed to first woodland
10:30am Haydon Fell woodland introduction, H&S briefing, walk around and Q&As
12:30pm Picnic lunch, updates and time for networking
13:30pm Crindlewood woodland, introduction, H&S briefing, walk around and Q&As
15:30pm Return to Newbrough Town Hall to collect cars and return home
The first woodland we are visiting is Haydon Fell woodland. It is 80 acres in size and was purchased in 2008 having been a Lodgepole plantation (harvested) until then. It has been replanted with primarily Oak, Downy Birch, Rowan, Hawthorn, Alder, Hazel and Holly, but has just under 80 species on site. There is a 30acre compartment which has been planted to Quercus robur at 6m centres as an investment. Also, 20,000 square metres has been planted to commercial pines: P. ormorica, P. abies, P. sitchensis and Thuja plicata. Finally, the owner is experimenting with a 75m X 75m agroforestry plot planted to apple trees, plums, medlars, currants, gooseberries, etc. His principal aims are biodiversity, investment and dendrology.
The second woodland we are visiting is Crindle Wood (not yet listed on OS maps!). In 2015, the owner purchased 7ha of land situated in Northumberland National Park land beside Crindledykes limekiln on Stanegate. In 2017, he planted 15,000 trees on 5ha of his land in the following mixes of 9 plant plots: Oak/Birch/Aspen, Sycamore/Birch/Hazel, Wild Cherry/Hawthorn. In addition, he has a block of Stika spruce underplanted with a mix of Abies amabalis, A. alba and A. procera to maintain continuous cover once the Sitka has been harvested. He is very interested in continuous cover forestry, red-squirrel conservation and wildwood creation. He is an advocate of looking carefully at the landform and choosing the correct tree species accordingly. This will become apparent at his site. His principal aims are woodland creation, investment and enjoyment.
These are two passionate and very interesting people and I am certain that anyone who attends this event will enjoy it and learn a lot.
What to bring: Please bring sufficient food and drink, and wear weather appropriate clothing and stout footwear. You may wish to wear gumboots to avoid ticks.