A day spent with the National Trust in Barker Plantation in Bransdale

The 36 acre plantation is largely coniferous, planted as a commercial crop more than likely before the property was given to the Trust by Charles Ingram Courtney, Earl of Halifax and others, in 1975¹‘ArcGIS Web Application’. 2023. Arcgis.com <https://national-trust.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=59d0d36e5b3a44ae8cc49fe38d47ffd7> [accessed 5 January 2023].

With contractors due to come in in a year or two to fell the larch and spruce only, mature oaks, Scots pine and patches of spindle-shanked birch need to be ‘haloed’ to provide some isolation against the heavy machinery and to give them a few seasons to strengthen.

So a day spent protected from the dreich Bransdale weather, ‘processing’ the selected felled trees. That is stacking the timber for eventual collection by the contractors and making habitat piles with the brashings.

The long-term aim is to create a natural woodland, but I am not convinced that some of the spindly birch will withstand another Storm Arwen. As regards the mature oaks, there is actually some evidence that “sudden changes in environmental conditions (such as light availability) due to the removal of the surrounding canopy may … damage or kill ancient trees“²‘Halo Ancient Trees – Conservation Evidence’. 2020. Conservationevidence.com <https://www.conservationevidence.com/actions/1191> [accessed 5 January 2023].

But heyho the contractor’s machinery is likely to be pretty brutal.

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  ‘ArcGIS Web Application’. 2023. Arcgis.com <https://national-trust.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=59d0d36e5b3a44ae8cc49fe38d47ffd7> [accessed 5 January 2023]
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  ‘Halo Ancient Trees – Conservation Evidence’. 2020. Conservationevidence.com <https://www.conservationevidence.com/actions/1191> [accessed 5 January 2023]