The Tamar Valley was once a renowned area for market gardening, including flowers and fruit. Much was transported to London via the River Tamar and then the railways. Early springs and south facing slopes meant that early season produce was in demand. But the markets declined throughout the twentieth century, as refridgeration and air transport
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Blog Archives
I recently donated some spare floor insulation to Tony Atkinson of the Cornwall Bat Group. Tony used to work for me, and still does occasional bat surveys for us. This is relevant, because Tony uses the dense foam for making bat boxes, and finds they give much higher occupancy rates than more common timber designs.
There has been relatively little news regarding ash die back disease in the last few months, as symptoms and spread will only become apparent as trees come into leaf in the new season. However, this has given time for a lot of planning and working out practical steps to help slow the spread of the
The plight of the red squirrel is well known since the introduction of grey squirrels into the wild in 1876. Greys are known to have been introduced to Exeter in 1915 and first found their way into Cornwall in 1951. The last known red squirrel in Cornwall was seen in 1984 so their demise has
This was meant to be Simon’s first blog, as he was planning to attend a Woodland Craft and Beanpole Day in North Hill, near Launceston in Cornwall. But a heavy cold intervened, so the event was missed, but we will give it a plug anyway. Did you know that last week was National Beanpole Week?
The French scientist Jean-Baptiste Fourier identified the greenhouse effect in 1827, but it was not until 1988 that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was set up in order to advise on climate change, risks and options for adapting to or mitigating that change. I was first asked about climate change about the same time,
The daffodil picking season at Treragin Wood is coming towards the end now, with later varieties more dependent on length of daylight than temperature. There’s probably two more weeks of commercial picking, and then just a few late leftovers for the home. A couple of local walking groups visit us most years to enjoy the
I recently went to look at a possible job on the South West Coast Path (it’s a tough life, but someone has to do it!), and took the opportunity to look at a number of our old projects. We have undertaken quite a few habitat reinstatement and translocation works, going back to the 1990s. One
I was often asked something like this when I started undertaking new tree planting schemes. There is of course no right or wrong answer, but there are a few guidelines: ** Five years of careful weeding may be needed when trees are first planted. (And they will have had two or three years in the
When you start to think of what makes a good wood for conservation, ancient woodland (continuous woodland since 1600), native trees, and perhaps oak and all its insect species are things that may come to kind. But woodland structure is equally important and sometimes under-valued. I think this is especially so when thinking of commercial
