STONE CIRCLE LIVERY PLANTS 8,000 TREES IN ONE SEASON

The vision behind Stone Circle Livery was the creation of a rural business that worked hand-in-hand with the environment. Part of this vision was the creation of new woodland to form natural wind breaks, habitat and interesting riding terrain as well as spray drift barriers to comply with our organic status.

We have planted thousands of trees at Stone Circle Livery and we are now old hands at getting the planting right but our first time around was a real learning curve. We did what we thought was best and we can honestly say that we got it right most of the time. We approached the Forestry Commission who offered a grant to purchase the trees to plant our new woodland under the Farm Woodland Premium scheme. The grant available just about covers the cost of the trees so any spiral guards, support canes, livestock protection and labour have to come out of your own funding. We took the view that the end result was worth the investment and committed our time and energy in a single planting season (December – February) to plant 3.5 hectares of native woodland species. That’s around 7,900 trees. The estimate we were given was working on a 30% failure rate. We are glad to report 3 years down the line that we have only lost 5%.

The Forestry Commission sugest a mixed and random spacing to an overall average density of 2250 plants per hectare, incorporating 10% open ground. We interpreted the 10% open ground in the form of new bridleways. Great for riding. The mix of trees was 30% Ash, 20% Oak, 10% Hornbeam, 15% Silver Birch 5% Wild Cherry (My favourite tree), 10% woody shrubs including hawthorn, buckthorn and hazel.

The pictures you see here are of the area we prepared for planting using a plough and power harrow and the resultant planting. Every spare minute we had went on planting trees but the results are really worth it. We’ll post some pictures of how the woods are taking shape in the summer. Some trees planted from small whips are already standing at 10ft tall.
www.forestry.gov.uk

CREATING BRIDLEWAYS AND RESTORING HABITAT AT THE AWARD WINNING LIVERY YARD, STONE CIRCLE LIVERY - KENT

There are many ‘Shaves’ in Kent where Stone Circle Livery is situated. A shave is a small parcel of woodland. Sometimes they are called a ‘Shaw’. ‘Shaw’ is the word you will find on many of the old maps. Shaves can often be found separating land boundaries between properties or situated around the field ditch network that runs across Kent. Often, where the ditch network finds lowland or inaccessible places a shave will be in evidence.

There is such a shave at Stone Circle Livery and within it there is a complicated ditch network. Over the many hundreds of years the ditches have formed their own path. In some areas the water has formed tunnels big enough to crawl through at 4ft high and in others there are channels 16ft deep. On a dry summers day it is hard to imagine the ditches almost overflowing but they do. After the heavy rains the sound of the water thundering through the ditches is deafening and you have to shout above it to be heard.

The trees in our shave are of the semi-ancient-natural-woodland variety and provide a stunning natural canopy that is deep in bird song. Originally the shave was impenetrable with overgrown brambles and fallen trees so we set about restoring it. There were two main objectives. The first was to create a new bridleway so it could be used by carriage drives as we have a carriage driving for the disabled group at Stone Circle Livery and riders on horse back. The second was to restore the habitat and to bring an old pond back to life.

Many years ago farmers would cut ditches in to ponds. This meant that during the summer months the pond would dry out as the water had run off in to the out flow ditch. We cleared the pond and reshaped the ditches so the water would hold and form a pond. At the same time we replaced the sleeper bridges on the public right of way that had become unsafe for walkers to use. We have been rewarded for all this effort by now seeing a pond that is healthy and vibrant with life and as the pond is adjacent to the path walkers get the benefit of our endeavours too.

The shave covers around 4.5 acres and is situated where a natural dip in the land occurs. This has given us the opportunity to create a new bridle way that follows the shape of the land flowing with the curves and the bends. It is amazing when you first set out to create a track how the natural lay-of-the-land and the position of the trees dictates a far more interesting route than you may have created left to your own devices. Again the opening of the track has rewarded us with superb displays of Foxglove and Bluebell.

Small parcels of woodland offer fantastic opportunities for riders. They also can bring a wood back to life through being used again and looked after. It is always good practice to seek initial advice from your local wildlife trust and forestry office as to best practice and no ditch should be cut in to or altered without expert opinion. The before and after pictures here show when we first created the tracks and restored the ponds and how they now look in spring. Stunning.
http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk
http://www.forestry.gov.uk