This year’s tree planting in the arboretum took place on 30th November to coincide with national tree planting week. Around a dozen people turned up to plant 34 trees.

Fortunately it was a dry and sunny day. However, during the previous couple of weeks two named storms Bert and Conall had dumped over 75ml of rain on the site. Planting was therefore a muddy and slightly soggy affair.

Three and a half hours later all the trees were in, staked and each protected from the deer with a cage. The arboretum now has a copse of birch of various types. Birch trees not only have nice autumn leaf colour, their bark is also a feature of these trees.

Some of the other trees planted this year were natives. They included the wild service tree, which is now rare in the wild. Native beech trees were also planted, but they were a cultivar with deeply serrated leaves to add interest. In the near future ten disease resistant elms will also be planted.

Below is a lovely selection of photos of the tree planting event.