If you look at photographs of the W. Highland landscape taken up to fifty years ago there are very few trees in the landscape. They were felled for fuel and building and I suppose people got used to the treeless view as they have in Orkney and Shetland. I need trees in my landscape so this winter will take advantage of the Scottish Rural Development Programme that grant aids small woodland creation. This is very small woodland, only 0.09ha or 900 square metres.
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| Craigard around 1950 |
There wasn't a mature tree anywhere in sight around the house in 1950 when my neighbour Alasdair took this photograph. Since then sycamore, hazel, birch and oak have flourished along the boundary and on the hill behind the house providing shelter, amenity and drifts of dead leaves in autumn.
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| Craigard 2011 |
There's still a bare patch ( on the right) behind the house below the Hill Park. If planted it would shelter the house and the hill from the south and southwest.
The proposed planting would merge with the trees on my neighbour's land.
At
spacing of 2.5m I'll need 160 bare root trees; oak, birch and hazel.
Ash was included in the original plan but with "Die back" disease its
not possible to get plants. The main problem will be finding 160 places
where the soil is deep enough, spade depth, to plant.
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| View 2012 |
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| View 2052 |
This is a rather feeble attempt to do a, " before and after" picture. I'll have to learn how to use PHOTOSHOP instead of scissors and paste but you get the idea. Its a big improvement in the landscape and wildlife habitat.
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