Well not so much going on this week, Grandchildren have been with us but we did visit on Tuesday and had the obligatory campfire with sausages and toasted rolls as you do. Also a couple of walks one with camera club friends and one with the family.

However I did manage to do something I have been meaning to do for some time which is to collect up some of the old disintegrating plastic tube which were used after the Pines were felled to protect new trees. I invented a game where by for the massive prize of a bag of Maltesers the team who collected the most old tubes in 20 minutes would claim the spoils.

It worked and around 60 old tubes were collected. that leaves approximately 940 tubes still dotted about the wood. It also prompted me to reflect on the value of putting up these little tubes with a bamboo cane to hold it in place. I would estimate that only about 20% actually still have a tree growing in them and of that 20% probably there are only about 50 trees that are worth keeping, the others are stunted and heavilly cropped back due to deer and squirrel damage.

The tubes are not that good because when the trees are small the interior of the tubes can get quite hot in the sun and this damages the tender young leaves. If the tree does manage to survive the slow roasting and get its leaves above and out of the tube then there is the problem of grazing and the deer are quite partial to young Oak or Hazel leaves. I dont think any of these have made good, it is the Beech that have perhaps done the best. Finally there is the problem of other trees like Silver Birch which have regenerated very successfully and grow quicker than the Oaks and Beech and so quickly shade them and prevent much growth. All in all a waste of time.

Maybe the Bigger greenish tubes that stand about 150 cm high would have been better but considerably more expensive. The solution would have been a deer proof fence around the perimeter but I quite like the deer and the wood has basically regenerated itself and would look virtually the same as it does now had I not bothered growing and planting over 1000 trees. Below is how it looked 10 years ago.