Woodland and wildflowers make a great day out

Jun 23 2010 by Jade Wright, Birkenhead News

THE summer has finally arrived, and now is a great time to get out and about to visit woods and meadows around the region, which have burst into colour, says the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity, the Woodland Trust.

The Woodland Trust has two great sites nearby: Wheeldon Copse, Alvanley and Thorn Wood, Weaverham.

Wheeldon Copse has been working on a Forest of Flowers project, in partnership with environmental charity Landlife.

Site manager Tim Kirwin explains: “This was the first site nationally where the Trust implemented the highly innovative technique of deep ploughing and sowing with wildflowers before tree planning.

“The success of the project has been credited to a new ploughing method whereby soil up to 1 metre deep is inverted using a special Bovlund plough.”

The plough buries the fertile top layer of soil whilst bringing to the surface the sterile sub-level on which wildflowers thrive.

“Wildflowers play a vital role in creating new woods,” says Tim. “This helps newly planted woodland become established by acting as ground cover to stave off weeds, and quickly attracting wildlife to the site.”