Foolish dream or reasonable plan?

[sar]

The first one made my heart leap. We were taken round by an agent who didn't know very much and am waiting to get some answers about any regular outgoings...water rates etc and road liabilities . Also as it is a bit more than I can afford at present will have to wait until Sept when i get a pension payout. I think what appeals is that this is a chance to safeguard. something which is surrounded by human intervention .
There are 2 very old sycamores on site 6 feet plus approx in diam so lots of saplings and larger. Would you remove or coppice the saplings?
I am going to keep looking and will keep you posted.

[Kymba]

What a brilliant idea
I am hoping to buy a small woodland at some stage and maybe a small field next to it in the near future.... Kent sometimes have small areas for sale, contact different Auctioneers as i regularly see plots of land for Auction in local papers.Some would be ideal (except at the moment the price )
I also have a brilliant web site that sells land and woodland in all areas of the country. Pm me if you would like the link.
Do take your time and do your research as there are a lot of restrictions on many of these places. Its a bit like buying a house.. you will know from the feel when it is the right place.
Also would be availabble to help if you need it

[sar]

Thanks Kymba ...will pm you when I work out how! Really enjoying this site as I have just found a debate on sycamores. I was vaguely aware that they had a lot more going for them than previously thought but very interesting reading.
I really find it interesting how various human interventions influence things. Although ignorant I have lived in this area for 30 years and walking our dogs every day and have seen good and bad. Since the BSE crisis the cows that wandered the common land have gone and there are more birch, hawthorn and oak seedlings even though there are Sycamores and London plane on the perimeter. Last year one area was cut and the variety flowers have increased and a patch of heather! better for the skylarks too. The variety of fungi in the woods seem to have diminished- used to be loads of wood blewitt. There has been recent excavation for water mains on playing fields and it is amazing how quickly the the soil heaps have gone natural despite these being managed as football fields for decades.

[deer boy]

Originally Posted by sar

Thanks Kymba ...will pm you when I work out how!

Left click on the persons name, in this case Kymba, & a list of options come up pm being one of them

[forfi]

Sar,as will become apparent in my posts over the next months,I beat you to it by about 10 years.I have 4.5 acres which I have restored from a poisoned field used to grow just barley for 30 and maybe more years. I "downsized" from a high pay and high pressure job some 20 odd years back and did a few years at organics and free ranging and all the rest ,sold up,and then moved on to this project.I will not be giving away all the data as it is the fodder for my thesis,but I will help in any way that I can.Its do-able and in a much shorter time frame than some will tell you. I sometimes almost wet my drawers when I read advice from folks who are younger than my turkeys [were] but sometimes you will get little gems of info.I am moving again due to having worn out my pelvis so my project is ending,I wish you all the best with yours. feel free to PM me if you want.

[forfi]

PS when you look at "weeds" and brambles and other bits that you don't want just ask yourself why did God invent goats and piggies ?

[forfi]

A quick summary.Sar is retiring and I don't know if you are a boy or a girl or if it is an early retirement so you could be 55/60/65 ? I would not be too happy at the idea of a 30 year project then

Old industrial site? great if you are 20.Not so great if you are 62 and a half.
Lots of hard graft? Reality must creep in,will your hip go? or your back ? My back is failing as a result of a medical procedure which saved my life when I was 18. I had a lumbar puncture and the relevance here is that this is the same as an epidural so watch out ladies who have had one of these,your planting days are numbered
How about an overgrown site? its a lot easier to take out the bits that you don't like in my experience.Also the trees ,if any, will be mature. Just in passing,the oaks that I planted as acorns in 2001/2 are now 8 feet high or so and I being a shorta****d person can stand under them

[nightshade]

I think that sar is more than sensible enough not to plant acorns.

[forfi]

I see.So you would go for the 30 year plan then?

[thunder]

So what is wrong with planting acorns?

henrya

[forfi]

Originally Posted by thunder

So what is wrong with planting acorns?

henrya

Whole place would be full of oak trees in no time thats whats wrong, I mean look at what befell me.Planted 100 acorns,hares took a few and now I have 75 [I think ] ,next thing it will be Merry Men all over the place carousing and wenching and adding to global warming.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by forfi

Whole place would be full of oak trees in no time thats whats wrong, I mean look at what befell me.Planted 100 acorns,hares took a few and now I have 75 [I think ] ,next thing it will be Merry Men all over the place carousing and wenching and adding to global warming.

If seventy five is too many - buy a saw!

But we need those trees!

henrya

[forfi]

Originally Posted by thunder

If seventy five is too many - buy a saw!

But we need those trees!

henrya

I was ,as ever ,taking the wee-wee
I was quiet pleased with the number of oaks.They go with all the ash,willow chestnuts beech and birch. Mind you they are not all my babies,the older chestnuts are some 50 feet high and there is a big beech that is about 120 years old.I also have a nice 1/2 acre orchard with ancient trees,26 old varieties and all from the locality.Bad year for apples here

[forfi]

PS I will sooner or later post the before-and-after photies for the benefit of sar or anyone else who wants to have a bash.
PPS beware of asking for help from the local wotsits, folks with clipboards will arrive and that leads to....................

[eeyore]

just a thought on trees - is sar after a woodland ? - there are lots of other habitats that benefit wildlife and a wildlife meadow and small scrub block or hedge might be easier to maintain.

a good book from someone who did just that is "creating a flower meadow" Yvette verner , green earth books , isbn 1-900322-08-0 its a guide come auotbiography and even if you dont go that route has some good ideas

[sar]

I shall look out for that book, Eeyore... thanks. And yes my inclination was to go for something suitable for meadow land and concentrate on encouraging a variety of insects and plants. Since i am retiring at the 'normal age', Forfi my logic was that insects were likely to have a shorter life cycle than my own and I would be able to monitor them over a 10 year period say to ensure that I was managing the land appropriately(ie looking for increases in numbers and variety of species)
However this will depend on what land is available,type, money etc. I have no problem planting trees for wildlife and the enjoyment for others in the future and not seeing them mature myself.
Anyway first things first, gotta find the land first. A couple of months away from D day.
Again thanks for all the encouragement.

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by sar

I am shortly going to become a pensioner and will have some money saved up and plenty of time!
My plan is to buy some land , approximately 4 acres and enhance, if it is already there or restore if it is not, the natural habitat. The little bit of reading I have done indicates I need to be careful in what I do and since I have no environmental experience I will take advice. I do have a science background so will plan to survey as well as monitor. At least in the early years my focus will be on vegetation and insects. My ideal( I think) would be chalk land but it will be dictated by closeness to home and price.
I know from the bit of lurking I have done on this forum that there are lots of knowledgable people here.
What would you do in these circumstances?
What land would you look for?size, location
What pitfalls do you see?
Am I a naive idiot Be as brutal as you like!
I could of course get an allotment but I suspect hawthorn hedges buttercups and thistles wouldn't go down well.

That sounds like an excellent plan, Would you want to live on the land or just restore it as a natural habitat? If you can afford to not live off the land then yeah go for it, if however you will need to use the land for making money you might want to have a rethink about the different ways of doing so.
Your best bet is to go for a bimble and have a look at the land around you, 4 acres is alot of land so maybe downsize a little bit. Its averaging out about 10 grand per acre at the moment but it does depend on what your after!

[harasseddad]

once you have your land, you can also try Butterfly Conservation, Buglife, British Dragonfly Society. All have leaflets and advice on land management, and BC have local county groups who would probably come along, survey and give advice. Also many counties have county naturalist's associations, who would probably help with surveys.