Last week we went to the Farmers Market in Boyle, County Roscommon, and as we parked the car we noticed a beige coloured fluff all over the road, the footpaths and piled up in the gutters:
Gabriel standing on a footpath covered in beige coloured fluff
Have you figured it out? Look above Gabriel’s head and you’ll notice the overhanging branches of great big beech trees. Their fluffy flowers have spilled out all over the place.
Beech flowers piled up in the gutters in Boyle
You may have noticed similar near where you live. The ground under the big beech tree down at the Cabin is also covered with flowers. In my last post I spoke about ash seeds generally needing 18 months to germinate, but with beech it is the following Spring. Get ready to start weeding beech seedlings out of the garden next spring!
Close up of beech flowers spilling their pollen onto the footpath.
It’s a fabulous time of the year. And this year, after the great big freeze of the winter months, the trees seem to be celebrating in every possible way. To see this kind of abundance being expressed so freely in the world of trees is such a reminder that ‘the economy’ is only one aspect of life 
Tags: Nature's Abundance
Back in October 2008 I wrote on the subject of ash seeds being so abundant. They could be seen in colossal quantities dripping off the twigs of every ash tree.
An abundant display of ash seeds in October 2008
Ash seeds generally take 18 months to germinate, so do the sums, – it’s now 18 months on. How exciting is that?
Look about you and I’m sure you’ll see those little ash seeds of October 2008 now sprouting up all over the place as perfect little ash seedlings. In their millions!
They're coming up in my wood-chipped garden paths;
They’re coming up in their thousands throughout the mowed grassy path down to the lake;
They’re pushing up through the long grass;
And of course they’re popping up all over the forest floor. Ash seedlings, in their countless millions across the whole country, offering a future to Irish Forestry that has never been more timely. They carry the potential of creating beautiful, uniquely Irish landscapes as well as supplying a range of timbers from superb, top of the range firewood right through to prime quality, attractive joinery timber, not to mention the lucrative hurley market that is still largely supplied to Ireland from Holland and Wales.
Ash doesn’t grow easily as a monoculture ‘crop’ but seems to lend itself to self- seeding and growing up through mixed forests in groups or patches. Many sitka spruce plantations would be ideal pioneer forests, if thinned skillfully, to bring in valuable ash trees.
Young self-sown tree heading for the light in a sitka spruce plantation.
While I was down at the Cabin woods photographing the seedlings on the woodland floor, I noticed I wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on them:
A big fat hare checking out the proliferation of ash seedlings.
Our woodlands are managed with plenty of ‘wild’ areas, so losing ash seedlings to hares is something we have learned to live with. But with so many seedlings coming up like weeds this year, there will be plenty for everyone.
Tags: Ash, ash seed, ash seedlings
Yesterday I went to Sligo to run a few errands, to get the car serviced and to give myself the treat of having a Shiatsu massage. Fabulous!! It was wonderful to be walking about enjoying the sunshine.
After lunch in a busy river side cafe, I walked over a little pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river. Half way across I was struck by the grace and beauty of an old willow tree growing out of the bank and dipping its branches into the river:
It was probably self sown. Notice where it's lost a couple of limbs over the years. This old willow adds character and charm to the urban riverside walk and brings a touch of wild right into the heart of the city.
While I love to see landscaped trees in an urban environment, – it’s trees like this willow above that really stir the soul. I whipped out the camera, took the photo and moved on to collect the car.
While waiting in the office for the bill, my eye fell on the desk calendar open on this page:
Right on! I paid the bill and headed out from Sligo taking the Manorhamilton to Blacklion road so that I could drop off on the way and visit my favourite sculpture at the lake edge near the Blacklion swimming jetty.
If ever you are in that area be sure to stop and go see this striking ‘Imagine’ sculpture. If you don’t have time to drive there, then check out Louise Walsh’s website and read about the project. It was a great project with a great message – ‘Imagine an island where all could live in peace’.
The Sculpture is made up of three stones in line with the holes matching up to make a monocular effect.
But the real impact comes from the experience of peeping through the stones which make a huge monocular, and discovering for yourself this captivating scene below:
The mystical stone sculpture by Louise Walsh and students near Blacklion.
To me, the artist has achieved something wonderful here. The material she has worked with is ancient of course, and when you peep through the holes in the stones the view seems to hold the sense of ongoingness and it brings the tiny island with its lone tree into sharp focus. The area in which it sits is so often rich in bird song and somehow that, coupled with the background silence of the place gives the viewer a physical sense of the message itself. I can never pass by without stopping.
So it was a day away from the forest, where trees were very much ‘in focus’.
Tags: Urban trees
One of the last things I did before leaving home for the hospital was to write out a press release for the Pro Silva Forest Trip to County Wicklow. We had been planning this event for months and I had been so looking forward to it. But on Easter Monday I got just a few hours notice from the hospital that a bed was available, so I had to just drop all plans, pack and get there quick.
The Pro Silva Ireland committee (without their Chairman!!), along with the forest owners, did a fantastic job organizing every detail of both the evening lecture and the forest open day. You can read about it on the Pro Silva Website. The lecture by Prof. Jurij Diaci from Slovenia on the Friday night was well attended and the following day saw a big gathering of people at Cloragh Farm Forest in Wicklow.
- People who attended the Pro SIlva Ireland forest outing to Cloragh Farm Forest in April. (photo by Donal O’Hare)
The day also saw the launch of Pro Silva Ireland’s new Forest Policy Document, which I’d have loved to have been there for. (It’s on the website, so do take a read. It’s really good.)
PRO Cathy Fitzgerald kindly visited me in hospital the next day to show me the photos, pass on the greetings and tell me about the two events. It was just great to hear all about it. Everyone I’ve spoken to since remarked that not just was there such a good attendance (70 to 80 people), but that at each forest stop everyone gathered in quietly to listen carefully to the invaluable discussions and to learn as much as possible from our two guest ‘experts’ about this dynamic new (new to Ireland that is!) approach to forest menagement.
Prof. Dr. Jurgen Huss from Germany and Prof. Dr. Jurij Diaci from Slovenia. - PSI guest 'experts' on the day.
Everyone I spoke to also told me of the great weather conditions (even though there was such a crowd, a megaphone wasn’t needed because there was not a breath of wind so everyone could hear) AND about the wonderful hospitality shown by our hosts, Geoffrey and Lucy Tottenham. I missed that too!! 
There are great benefits from being part of a European federation of forests, as Pro Silva is. Not least, you get to meet the leading experts in close-to-nature/CCF forestry from all over Europe, and invite them over to help us to learn how to do it here. Plus, we get invited over to see their forests. (Check out the PSI website for details of the trip to Hungary next month. Still a few places available.)
There has been quite a lot of talk since about the Pro Silva day in Wicklow, and about Prof. Diaci’s lecture the evening before, and about the new Forest Policy Document that was launched on the day. It’s let me see that the interest in this exciting subject is growing, and when it comes to Irish forestry, many people really do seem to be adopting a change of view.
Tags: Close-to-nature, forest management, Pro Silva Forest Day, Pro Silva Ireland
You may have noticed that it’s been a while since I’ve tapped out a Local Forest Blog. For four weeks I was in Beaumont Hospital, first having surgery and then recovering my strength. I went in on 5th April feeling so fit and healthy and after surgery (removal of a meningioma on the brain) I woke up with a fairly major loss of power on my left side. A bit scary at first, but once I began working with two fab physiotherapists at the hospital the movement started coming back into my limbs. I was able to relax, read many of the books I had never made time to read on the outside, and have some laughs with some of the other patients and with the nurses. Such fun people. I always thought hospital is supposed to be not a fun place, but I have to say I’ve never laughed as much as during the last few weeks there.
Having always sought out wild places and forests where nature is allowed to thrive, I’ve never really been one to tour landscaped gardens and parks. But I can tell you that, while in hospital, I came to really appreciate the beauty of the surrounding flowers, shrubs and trees in the grounds of Beaumont.
Landscaped area at the entrance to Beaumont hospital
During all that wonderful weather in the month of April, I loved getting out into the air each day and watching Spring unfold through all the beautiful flowers and trees. From my bed by the window in the early mornings I watched a gull building its nest in a sheltered corner on the roof below and the tips of birch trees slowly opening out into delicate green leaves. My favourite of all was a massive lone oak tree just to the left of the hospital building.
A fond farewell to the big oak tree the day before I left the hospital.
So I’m back! Thanks to those who’ve been patiently waiting for some sort of response to emails and comments on this blog and for all your well wishes.
Tags: Time Out
One of the subjects that I meant to write about, during all that good weather when I wasn’t writing, was about the honour I received at the RDS/Forest Service Irish Forestry Awards back in October 2009, in being presented with a Judges Special Award.
- RDS Award winners: Standing L to R: Diarmuid McAree, retired Chief Forestry Inspector; Sean Ronan; John O’Connell; Fonsie Mealy, Vice President RDS; Cathal Kilcline, Bobby O’Connell, Mayor of Derry; Declan & Yvonne Foley. Seated Minister of State Tony Killeen; Jan Alexander
I had gone along not thinking I would win any award, as the woodlands I had entered in the Biodiversity section are young and not very developed yet. I was so pleasantly surprised when, after the awards were passed out, my name was called at the end to receive the Special Judges Award.
The RDS/Forest Service Irish Forestry Awards play a great role in encouraging people involved in growing forests to keep up the good work and they help us all increase our standards just that bit more. Any woodland owner can enter. Check out the RDS website.
Here’s what they said:
Judges Special Award Jan Alexander
“Finally our last award of the evening is the Judge’s Special Award. This Award is intended to give recognition to the exceptional skill and dedication shown by a either an individual or group that the judging panel have encountered during their inspections. This Award is intended to recognise their achievement and also to provide encouragement to many other aspiring foresters who are considering planting trees on parts of their land.
I am pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Judges Special Award is Jan Alexander of Bawnboy, Co. Cavan.
The judges were very impressed with the work that has been carried out on Jan’s plantation and by the “close to nature methods” that are being applied in the management of her forest. The judges also noted the minimum interventionist approach that Jan has adopted and the fact that no chemical weed control was used on the plantation.
Since Jan moved to Ireland from Australia in the late 1970’s she has had a profound impact on the Forestry sector here, through her work both as founder of Crann, Ireland’s leading voluntary tree organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of our trees, hedgerows and woodlands to her current position as chairperson of Pro Silva Ireland.
Jan’s passionate interest in Forestry has been an inspiration to all and she has been one of the driving forces behind the planting of broadleaf trees in Ireland. It is in recognition of her major contribution to forestry both at a local and national level in Ireland that the judging panel has chosen Jan Alexander for this year’s Judge’s Special Award. I would like to call on the Minister to present Jan with this specially commissioned trophy from the award winning Irish wood turner Seamus Cassidy.”
Last week I went along to the opening of the latest exhibition of paintings at Solas Art Gallery in Ballinamore. I love that little gallery. It’s above Ben and Gail Quinn’s Four Seasons florist/garden centre in the main street. How wonderful to be able to see works from a variety of artists, both local and not, only seven miles from home.
The exhibition was shared by two artists, both living in Leitrim and many of the paintings depicted easily recognizable scenes from around the county.
Although many of Gareth Boyle’s paintings are of a photographic nature, some other quality to the image emerges that a camera somehow just can’t pick up. Maybe it has something to do with the hours of watching and observing that goes into a painting such as the one below, – “Lough Allen from Arigna”.
I found the above painting of particular interest. Notice the traditional landscapes that rural Ireland is famous for on the lower, more fertile soils on either side of the lake. A patchwork of hedgerows dividing small fields. And above those fields, the stark contrast of the big, dark green blocks of forestry on the higher, poorer ground. And see what looks like a fairly recently replanted clearfell block to the right, with a forestry road visible through the small trees. Gareth is a local artist painting a landscape that in itself is reflecting back a time in history and recording the way things are done during this time.
As I looked at this painting I had a little daydream about people a hundred years from now looking at this painting and asking ‘what are those dark green blocks where our lovely swathes of mixed forests are now?’ Time. I suppose it will take more than ‘best practice guidelines’ for forestry to become more integrated both into Leitrim landscapes and into the lives of the people who live here.
Another painting at the exhibition caught my eye,- by the second artist, Louis McLoughlin. This painting also reminded me of forestry, although when I spoke to Louis about where it was, he said just along a ditch on a country road in south Leitrim. The painting is of the wild Fireweed plant, otherwise known as the rosebay willow herb. You can read the post I wrote sometime back about how this plant colonizes the disturbed ground after forest clearfell.
"Fireweed at Kinkeen" by Louis McLoughlin
Louis work is more abstract, but it shows that burst of colour that fireweed throws out into the landscape every summer. To see more of Louis’ work, look on Solas website.
Here’s the painting I was most drawn to from the exhibition. Nothing to do with trees, but couldn’t you just step out onto that stoney strand?
"Lissadell Beach" by Gareth Boyle.
Tags: plantation forestry
Months of good weather has meant a lot of being outside and not very much sitting inside at the computer. So often, while out and about or working in the woods, I noticed things worth writing about, but somehow didn’t have the inclination nor discipline to open up the computer for anything other than the most essential tasks. ”I’ll write a couple of posts when the weather breaks” I kept saying to myself. But of course the weather held, and it’s still fabulous. So resolving that the weather will stay good for another few weeks, today I took a walk down to the young plantation and remembered to bring my camera. Here’s some of what I saw:
Not long after the trees were planted (1995) we made some bridges across the ditches to make real easy access to the forest. We put chicken wire over the timber so they wouldn’t be slippy. Normally in March the timber is coated with slime and moss, – but look at it now. Completely dry. In 30 years of living in Ireland I don’t ever remember the ground being so very dry at this time of the year.
The vegetation has been utterly beaten back by first severe flooding; then heavy snow falls; then severe frost for a prolonged period, and now you could almost say drought. Ideal conditions now to get in and do some pruning before the vegetation begins to grow.
Check this out…. No gum boots! Imagine being able to walk out into my very low-lying, usually swampy alder forest wearing just sneakers on my feet in the middle of March! Incredibly dry underfoot.
I passed over the now dislodged big bridge that crosses from the wetter, alder land onto the bank of the higher and drier, oak, birch, hazel part of the forest. This heavy bridge was lifted off its anchorage by the floods back in November. It weighs a ton and will take a couple of very strong people to put it back in position.
While I was crossing this bridge I heard the unmistakeable sound of mating frogs….thousands of them. I could see them in the distance from the bridge but of course as soon as I crept nearer they, quite rightly, vanished out of camera range. We have four ponds along the wettest area of the forest. Some we keep clear of weed but we leave this large pond with grass and only clear away the brambles from around the edges. It makes a perfect breeding pond for frogs. If you look hard you can see some of the slower frogs in the bottom left corner. The grassy surface was swarming with hundreds of frogs until I crept over with my camera. I know, I know, – I don’t have the patience to be a wildlife photographer!
Love is in the air. Spring has arrived…… today anyway. Although experience tells me that there’s bound to be some more weather to come before ‘May is out’.
Tags: Jan's Farm Forest
Martino Newcombe and friends
Word just in from Martino Newcombe and Tom Nixon of Trojan Horses that we can see them and their magnificent horses at work this coming Tuesday night at 8.30pm, RTE 1, on Ear to the Ground. Do some home work by checking out their blog site in advance of the programme and you’ll begin to really understand why these two guys have such belief in writing horse logging back into the Irish forestry story. Fantastic work. Enormous commitment. And I’ve no doubt it will be fantastic viewing on Tuesday night. don’t miss it!
Before Christmas I joined a group of friends at a Christmas party and I got into a conversation with a young lady who lives up the mountain near Drumshanbo. She’s lived in the same area all her life and has watched the slow changes occurring as forestry became more prevalent over the last twenty years. And then in the middle of her conversation she just came out and said it as naturally as if it were a given. She said “It’s awful to see all the desertification happening up where I live. Have you seen it?”
I was quite taken aback. I’d always associated the term “desertification” with virgin, old growth forests in tropical regions of the world. I’ve seen it in Australia, where I grew up, and I’ve seen it in Malaysia and Thailand many years ago. I never thought of that term ‘desertification’ applying to conifer plantations in damp old Ireland. Yet I could see how, in this young lady’s mind, that’s how it appeared. She’s articulate, intelligent and bright. She’s not an environmentalist or a ‘green’. She’s not a scientific person. She wouldn’t know that much about forestry, apart form what she sees in her area. But there it was, – her word, her observation.
I thought about her on the way home. The trees were planted and left to grow away, slowly changing the landscape over forty years or so. To someone who grew up in such an area, – that’s what a forest is. And then whamo, just as the trees reach a relatively impressive size, along come big machines and the rapid process of “desertification” occurs, very often on a large scale. Her landscape is dramatically changed very suddenly and she feels the impact of this “desertification”. If she chooses to remain living in the area this young lady will be an elderly lady before she ever sees big trees there again. Kind of sad, I thought. Big trees are just so inspiring to be around. The only big trees around Drumshanbo, and indeed most parts of Cavan/Leitrim, are occasional single trees and ones in the hedgerows. No big trees in the forests. European foresters reading this post will no doubt also think that a strange concept.
Anyone can see by looking at this image that, done this way, plantations will never become a forest. This is what my young friend meant when she used the term 'desertification'.
If Copenhagen was less than what was aimed for, one thing that stood out above all else was that we must preserve forests. Not just virgin, tropical forests that are so under threat, – but all forests. Sequestration of carbon seems to be one powerful way of stemming climate change and forests do that so well.
The main reaction from here, reflected in the media that I read following Copenhagen, was that there was a clammer for the Government to provide more forestry grants; about the re-aforestation grant coming to an end and how will we manage to keep forest land as forest land without it. (Umm, one way seems fairly obvious.) But the message from Copenhagen wasn’t that ‘forestry’ as a land use must be preserved, – that is, the practice of establishing forests and then cutting them down. What they said was ‘forests’ must be preserved. So if the only forests we have are even aged, single species plantations, – then that’s what we must preserve, surely, in order to be part of the solution to this world-effecting problem/crisis. Some readers might find the thought of preserving conifer plantations as a fairly depressing thought, but………
Luckily the plantations that we have are ideally suited to being transformed through skillful management and time, into something quite different. Permanent forests that contain big trees and that produce quality timbers, ad infinitum. That’s our good fortune, should we opt to grasp it.
This was a single species plantation, in Austria. Now look at the beauty of it, and the timber it is still producing. No need to cut it all down. The worlds leading experts are telling us: |Forests must be preserved. Producing quality timber does not have to conflict with forest preservation. Done this way the plantation has been allowed to evolve into a forest, with its unique ability of carbon sequestration.
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