COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING
countryside
news
life
Compiled by Tony Ridd
DO YOU HAVE A
COUNTRYSIDE STORY?
what to
look out
for...
Wall Lizards
On a warm sunny day there is a good chance
that you could spot a wall lizard around the
Ventnor area, especially in the Botanical
Gardens or La Falaise Car Park. They grow to
about 12cm (6”) long , including tail and are
to be found on dry, rocky places. There diet
includes insects and spiders and are not found
anywhere else in the British Isles.
back to nature
A countrymans diary
The winter/early spring season’s planting is all
finished along with our woodland coppicing and
cutting. We can have a quick breather, collect gear
and bits of kit that are scattered around the sites
that we have been working on, tidy up the loose
ends and carry out any equipment maintenance that
needs to be done.
I like to give the impression that we are busy in the
winter months and lounge about in the summer,
but it’s not quite like that… No, honest!!! Part of
the management of our new hedges and woodland
planting, means, that, we have
to spray them with herbicide to
control competitive grass and
keep down weeds. Now, I know
not everybody likes chemicals,
but we, like many (probably most)
users don’t over use chemicals
and tend to limit the application
rates to manufacturers minimum
recommendations, for cost reasons
as much as any other! It’s a
worthwhile job, and I believe
that by controlling the grasses,
it increases growth rates by 2-3
times.
With help from the nice ladies at ‘EU LEADER’,
we have a new addition to our toys, oops, I mean
equipment. A tractor and ‘forwarding trailer’ (timber
trailer with a grab). Now that the woodland floor is
beginning to dry up, we can get in with the heavier
machines to extract the timber that is on the ground.
I am hoping with new equipment to show owners
of small and medium sized woodlands that it can be
worth while managing their woods, so expect to see
improvements at a woodland near you!!!
CALL TONY ON 07966 292334
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