This week we joined up with Cumbria Woodlands and The Lake District National Park to do some bracken bashing and tree tagging.
Our team this time consisted of: Liam, Euan and Ellysha. We were also joined by Jamie from Cumbria Woodlands and Olivia from the LDNP.
Although bracken is native to the UK and common in our woodlands, that doesn’t mean we can simply let it grow unchecked. Its ability to spread rapidly and dominate large areas can threaten biodiversity by outcompeting other plant species. Our first task of the day was to tackle this issue by using large sticks to bash the young bracken stems. This method damages the plants, helping to slow their growth and giving other woodland species—like our recently planted tree saplings—a better chance to thrive.
Check out the last time we bashed some bracken.
Our second task was to carry out a sapling survey. This involved inspecting all the recently planted saplings inside the protective tree tubes. While many of the tubes contain healthy young trees, some are empty. The missing saplings could be due to various factors, including animal browsing, disease, or harsh weather conditions. For each empty tube we found, we marked it with spray paint so that it can be easily located in winter and replanted for the next growing season. We also recorded the number of dead saplings to help keep track of survival rates and inform future planting efforts.
One thing to be aware of if you’re venturing into the woods this Spring is the presence of ticks, we were pretty tick aware and tucked our trousers into our socks and kept ourselves vigilant for the little buggers. For more information on ticks and Lyme disease be sure to check out the following: Lyme Disease UK
For more about the day, you can check out the Lake District National Parks blog here.
