Hirst Wood Burial Ground

This was our second time working in the burial ground this winter. We continued to remove some of the younger trees - making the pathways and access to the graves clearer, but also allowing more light to reach the ground. 

We are keeping a range of species to maximise the benefit to wildlife; there are oak, ash. silver birch, willow, hawthorn, a small number of rowan and hazel, some privet and a pleasing amount of fairly big elm trees. 

During the summer we will make a better assessment of what further work needs doing to embed a ecological management plan. So far we have mainly concentrated on the obvious regrowth of previously coppiced trees, and cut back some of the bramble etc, but it may be beneficial to take a proactive approach to some of the larger trees.  We plan to be back next winter to continue the work.