If you love trees don’t hug one, plant one!
Whether you’re an urban or a country dweller, you can’t fail to be struck by the beauty of the trees at this time of year. But as their leaves fall and their skeletal bodies emerge, entering a seemingly hibernating state, the winter tree planting season begins.
Marking the beginning of the season is The Tree Council’s 38th annual National Tree Week (running from 24th November to 2nd December). National Tree Week was launched in 1975 to replace over 20 million trees lost as a result of Dutch elm disease, so with the recent news that an outbreak of Chalara fraxinea (ash dieback) is devastating our ash population, almost 40 years later, the event is particularly poignant.
As lovers of David Hockney will know, trees form an unmistakeable part of the Wolds landscape, home to Bannisters’ Farm. The Bradford-born artist has immortalised the Wolds woodland, which punctuates the surrounding farmland, in works such as Bigger Trees near Warter and Winter Timber.
We’re lucky enough to witness these inspiring scenes each day on our way into work, so we’re sure to give back whenever we can. In fact, over the last few years, we’ve planted over 10 acres of woodland around the farm including beech trees to replace the very old ones that we’ve been told are dying of old age!
Luckily our ash trees are free of ash dieback (at least for now) but one problem we do have is squirrels stripping bark off the trees and causing the branches to die off. Apparently, it’s the juvenile males vandalising the trees due to an overabundance of testosterone – not much different to humans then! Of course, this could just be an old Woodman’s tale…
So if you’d like to do something positive for your local treescape there are many ways you can get involved, either by planting a tree in your own garden (you can find useful information on The Tree Council website about how to plant trees) or you can find out about projects in your own area on the events map.
Since trees make a difference to so many aspects of life – wildlife and biodiversity (and that includes people) will be affected. So as a mum of two, I really feel it’s my duty to act.
Zoe
