The Border Forest Trust's Carrifran Wildwood
and Corehead Farm are neighbouring sites to Grey Mare's Tail Reserve, the
National Trust for Scotland property. I am the Volunteer Ranger at Grey Mare's
Tail and at the start of June, I hopped the boundary fence to work alongside
Lynn Cassells, BFT Site Officer, for 3 days.
Carrifran Wildwood
At Carrifran Wildwood, the task of the day was
to gather and secure some of the old tree guards that were taken off at the High
Camp in April at Firth hope. It was also a good opportunity to see the Peatland
Action project at Little Firthhope.
Upon our arrival in the car park, we were
welcomed by the unmistakeable call of a cuckoo that has made Carrifran Wildwood
its home for the summer.
After ambitiously opting for the 'short but
steep' climb up Dun Knowe to Carrifran Gans, we climbed through a mix of trees
such as oak, hawthorn and juniper that were part of the earlier planting. The
map of Carrifran Wildwood (http://www.carrifran.org.uk/about/our-mission-statement/) clearly shows the trees planted in certain areas and the
habitat types they will form. The climb rewarded us with stunning and tranquil view
over Carrifran and the Moffat Valley.
The on-going peatland restoration trial showed
me it's not just about woodland areas with BFT! Exposed peat has been covered
in a jute netting to prevent further erosion and encourage vegetation to
grow and form a natural protective cover over the peat. Coir logs act as dams
to limit and control water drainage.
It is one thing to be aware of the facts and
figures of Carrifran and quite another to see directly, the results and the
potential for the dynamic habitat and peaceful landscape that has been created
here.
Corehead Farm
The following days were based at Corehead Farm.
The Corehead orchard's floor is dominated by a mat of tussocky grass. Wild flowers struggle to establish in an
environment like this. Lynn and I cut out and swapped sections of turf between
the orchard's dense grass and an adjacent field with yellow rattle in order to
create a more wildflower-friendly site.
Yellow rattle is parastic upon grasses and an effective natural control
to reduce grass dominance. Once we
started digging in the orchard, it was plain to see why flowers struggled to
flourish; the handle of our spade broke off when we fought to dig out turf from
the dense network of grass roots!
On the last day, Lynn, myself and Corehead volunteers
Charlie, John and Heather cut bracken growing around young planted trees. We
used Jungle Knives - the name makes them sound more dangerous than they are -
to cut bracken stems within a 1m radio of the tree guards. I was impressed that
with a good bit of team work, sunshine and tea breaks, we covered a substantial
area.
Overall, a short but very sweet insight into
BFT's projects and site management! I look forward to returning to these sites
to observe their development over the years and perhaps, hear more cuckoos
making Carrifran their summer retreat!
Eleanor
NTS and BFT volunteer
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