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. 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 [...]
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 [...]
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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 [...]
For the last four weeks we have experienced amazing weather for Irish standards. Everything frozen and white. The trees looked so beautiful. It brought many hardships with it, and many of us had to change the way we usually did things. For us on the farm, filling water for the cattle (and for neighbour’s cattle) [...]
I A whirl of white as the branches and twigs grow a coat of frozen snow. Alder twigs, seed long since dispersed, making lovely patterns in the snow. But the ground feeding birds need hedges and trees to find their food. ……. And little patches of wildness…..
It’s doubtful if we’d have much of a forest at all in what we call The Cabin Woods if we hadn’t used tree sleeves to protect them at planting stage. One friend from Wales said when he was visiting here “The hares are the size of a small pony!” Well, – that’s a slight exaggeration, [...]
Last summer I ran an informal workshop on the farm on the subject of tending young woodlands. About twenty people turned up on the Saturday morning. The deal was that in the morning I’d show people through the woods and offer what I have learned about tending the woods. After lunch we would do some [...]
Late August is a good time to visit the forests and do some marking before the leaves fall in another couple of months. Many foresters I’ve met with Pro Silva Europe don’t need the trees to be in leaf to know when one crown is crowding out another. For the less experienced of us though, [...]
There is a strip of woodland between the lane down to the Cabin Woods and the home field, where the cattle are at the moment. We planted it about 7 years ago for shelter and shade and to link the woods behind the house with the main woodland areas that we planted about ten years [...]
Hazel catkin braving the snow Out walking along our avenue yesterday I noticed many of the hazel trees have released their catkins. To me, this is always the first sign of spring. It’s amazing to think that in this freezing, snowy weather, beneath the surface the soil is beginning to stir. The trees are [...]
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