New Land to Plant!

Marshy Clay

I actually have permission to plant trees on this largish marshy, swampy, fenced off bit of land, between conifer plantations and fields of Horses.

The land owner said I can plant this bit with trees, if I so wish, also; that I can landscape it a bit.  I reckon that if I raised some little banks up off the normal ground level a bit; I could grow some Oaks out here, which would be good, since there seem to be so few of them on this massive plateau, which makes up the Northerly border between Devon and Cornwall.

The soil here is a thin layer of peaty, saturated mud, under which lies a thin layer of peaty clay.  Below and beyond that is seemingly just endless clay.  In ununiformed layers of different colours, ranging from light grey-blue to bright irony orange.  Mostly though it's just grey.  Probably be quite good for making plates out of.

Creating a variety of Habitats

At the moment this is a flattish swamp, it will support only a small variety of wildlife and only such things that will live in a swampy grass-land.  Besides the conifer plantations that are common-place up here; most if not all of the remaining land is like this and usually being grazed.

What I want to do on this site is to create a variety of different habitats, so that the maximum different plant and animal species can thrive here and hopefully be able to co-exist.

The aim, for me is to create large, seemingly random and natural areas of the following land types:

• Raised areas of land, maybe by only a foot/30cm.  Just enough to create a dry area, where trees such as Oak and Hawthorn can grow.
• Ponds, where much more water life can exist than just on a swamp.  I want to make them about three feet/just under one metre deep.  I also want to make them fairly large, as it is possible this clay might collapse and the bigger the ponds are; the longer they should survive for. 
• Areas of existing swamp, so that such plants and creatures that live here already can continue doing so.
• Areas of drained swamp, where landscaping has altered the groundwater supply and some bits of the bog will become dry or dryer.  These bits will be good for Birch.  Which seem to be mostly absent, from this whole area.
• Water Courses or lower areas, where water can flow through the swampier areas and ponds.  I want to channel the water where I want it to go and to cause various areas to become either wetter or dryer.
• Lowered Swamp areas, where I just lower the land by a few inches/10cm(ish), to create a wet-land environment.   Also areas when water is directed to, which will become vastly more boggy

 Ponds are best put in the boggiest places

        The aim of this first bit of swampy landscaping, was to drain this very swampy bit of land(shown above), at the bottom of the neighbouring Horsey field, into the (already featured) pond, which I have dug near by.

I had put the pond on what looked like a position further down this gradual slope.  But no!  As you can see here; the water has gone the other way and is saturating the bottom of the Horsey field even more. the ditch I dug to drain the swamp into the pond is full and over flowing at the swamp end, whilst the pond still has an inch/2.5cm of cliff before the normal land level.

Oh well, at least I have drained a small area of marsh on some of the sides around the pond and I have created the beginnings of a water course, which could snake its way though the whole thing if I do it just right.

Freezing Night Time Hedge Planting

Leat Side Hedge

The day time temperatures up on Dartmoor at the moment are scarcely rising above minus two, so I dread to think what the temperature is tonight.

 There was no way I could have gone out tonight without gloves, so I hunted high and low for them and eventually found them in the very bottom and back out a seldom used cupboard.  In fact there were two pairs there.

Tonight I am extending a hedge, which as you can see from the proximity of the fearsome glow from the near by prison; a bit further away from my usual planting sites.  This bit lies just down stream on the leat, where I have gradually planted a hedge along a thin strip of land between the leat and a barbed wire fence.

I began planting this hedge about four years ago, with the odd surviving tree from predating years, some being in for about ten/eleven years now.  Each year I add another couple of chunks of hedge along here and this year I have chosen to do the far end, where the leat comes up to the main road (B3212).  

Tonight I have only planted Oak, Hazel and Blackthorn, but many established trees of other types, which I have added during previous years; already exist here.  so tonight I was really filling in the gaps, with what was missing.