Life goes on

I can’t complain too much about having to distance myself here at Comar Wood because it’s what I often do much of the time anyway! Life here hasn’t really changed a lot in the last couple of weeks and at least spring seems to be going ahead as normal. I thought for this post I would give a general update on recent goings on at the wood.

Work in the woods

I’ve been continuing to work on the thinning to try and get as much as possible done before the birds begin nesting in earnest (about now). There is now a fair bit of timber on the deck waiting to be extracted. I’ve cleared spruce from around quite a number of big old silver birch trees that are scattered throughout this part of the wood. On many of them the lower branches have been shaded out and died off while the tree concentrates on upward growth to keep its head above the spruce. Hopefully giving them more space will help them survive a bit longer.

It’s good to have these broad-leaved trees among the spruce. They provide diversity for wildlife, their leaf litter helps nourish the woodland soil (spruce needles can have an acidifying effect) and their seeds will help to regenerate the woodland once we start removing small blocks of spruce. Old trees and dead wood are an important element of a healthy woodland ecosystem, providing habitat for many invertebrates as well as bats and hole-nesting birds like tits and woodpeckers.

The birch trees let much more light through their canopies than spruce trees, which means that many of them already have some greenery on the ground beneath them (such as mosses, ferns and wood sorrel). Opening up more space around the birches should help these small patches of ground flora to survive and expand outwards.

The next challenge for the thinning is to extract all the timber. We made some progress on this at the beginning of March when we finally bought a tractor! It is a Case IH 885 and is about 30 years old, but should be up to the job. We still need to get it properly up and running, ideally get someone who knows more than us about tractor mechanics to give it a once-over and get a winch to go on the back of it. Then we can start putting it to work… I will report back once this happens.

The house

The house is progressing gradually. We have clad it in larch boards (just a bit to finish off), insulated it with cellulose fibre (recycled newspaper) and the inside is now starting to take shape. We still need to set up our private water supply and sewage system. Getting hold of building materials has become rather tricky recently so this might hold up proceedings soon, but hopefully not for too long.

The area behind and to the side of the house is currently quite open and bare because this was part of the block of spruce trees that we felled to make space for the house. In the winter I planted about 400 native trees and shrubs in these areas, as well as on the bank in front of the house, to help woodland re-establish and to make up for the trees we felled. The trees were 20-40 cm high whips from a nursery near Inverness. They are very small, but this should help them get established quickly.

We have also started preparing a plot for our polytunnel, which we had hoped to have ready for growing veg this summer. It seems that it’s not just toilet paper that folk are stocking up on for the pandemic – polytunnels are also apparently in high demand, but we should have one arriving in a few weeks’ time.

Wildlife in the wood

Wildlife in the wood is definitely in spring mode now. Birds are very active, with songbirds belting out their tunes for most of the day. At least four pied wagtails have turned up, presumably eyeing up the log stack again for their nest. However, first it seems there is a courtship process that involves birds chasing each other whilst flying laps of the house and surrounding trees, interspersed with some violent clashes between individuals as well as lots of enthusiastic tail wagging. Grey wagtails (actually quite yellow) have also been hanging out here, and the other morning I looked out of the caravan window to see a pair of grey partridges walking past (first sighting of these at Comar Wood and so far not seen them again since).

Badgers have obviously been out and about. I’ve seen lots of evidence of their little diggings, called snuffle holes, in the moss and grass widely across the wood. These are where the badger has been searching in the soil for worms and insects to eat. I was looking at some snuffle holes when I came across one hole that had dung in it. This was probably a badger dung pit, which they use as a territory marker. Despite there being lots of badger activity in the wood, I have yet to see one here in the flesh (though I have seen them elsewhere locally). I enjoy walking in the woods at dusk, especially with these lighter evenings, so hope to actually encounter one of these beasts here soon.

The frogs have been vocal for a few weeks, croaking away in the ditch near our log stacks. Frogspawn is appearing even in small puddles, the frogs either very optimistic or just employing a scatter-gun kind of approach to laying their eggs.

Woodland flowers have been reluctant to come out so far this spring. A few primrose flowers have opened but everything else is still waiting. However, it’s reassuring to see bluebell leaves starting to poke through the ground and it always amazes me how fast these grow once the weather warms up. I know there are bluebells in some of the areas I have been thinning, but they have been suppressed by lack of light and just send up a few hopeful leaves each year. I’ve seen some of these leaves starting to appear and look forward to finding out how they respond in those patches of the plantation where there is now much more light.

The days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer (even if it was snowing here today!). A few more weeks and there should be a burst of green in the woods.