Many thanks to Treesponsibility and their energetic band of helpers from Old Earth Primary School at Elland and Savile Park Primary School in Halifax for their heroic treeplanting achievements here in Pecket Well during October 2016. Thanks to them, the steep slopes below the hay meadows at Elmet Farmhouse are now planted with several hundred saplings.
Interspersed with oak, birch, alder and field maple are numerous hazel saplings, which will be coppiced in years to come. The trees will stabilise the hillside and help to alleviate the risk of flooding lower down the valley. Because trees turn CO2 into oxygen, they help to offset carbon emissions, thereby countering the impact of global warming.
Each sapling is staked and covered with a translucent plastic tube to prevent them being nibbled by deer. Straw is used as a mulch around the base of the trees to help them get established. In a few years’ time the previously bare slope will become a productive woodland, enhancing the beauty of the existing trees in Pecket Well Clough and nearby Hardcastle Crags.
Many thanks to Dongria, Christina, Bear, Gavin, Jem, Billy and the whole team at Treesponsibility for organising and carrying out this tree-planting session, and to the Woodland Trust for providing the trees.
Tree-planting is very hard work, especially on such a steep slope in the rain! We’re extremely to all the children and staff from Old Earth and Savile Park Schools for their Tree-Mendous work. We hope you enjoyed your visit to Pecket Well this autumn. We look forward to meeting more of you next spring for tree-planting phase two.
More Tree-mendous Work!
And a big thank you to the pupils of Ash Green Community Primary School in Mixenden for two days of hard work during March 2017 to complete the tree-planting scheme begun in October 2016 – ably organised once again by Treesponsibility.
We also planted 6 apple trees and 2 damson trees in the field near Elmet Farmhouse in January 2017 with help from our friends Daru and Stu. We plan to share the fruit with them – and our guests at Elmet – in future years. It was a beautiful sunny day and our mini-orchard has a spectacular view, so we hope the trees will thrive.
