North Pennines AONB Partnership's Woodland Project
Improving the dramatic landscape of the North Pennines
Projects Updates:
20/04/2010 13:26: Woodland planting branches out
Woodlands are popping up all over in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty thanks to the AONB Partnership’s Living North Pennines project. Ninety hectares of new broadleaved woodland have now been planted, with more in the pipeline for next winter. With support from SITA Trust’s Enriching Nature Fund and the Forestry Commission, the AONB Partnership has been able to work closely with North Pennine landowners to create new native woodlands. Some of our recent successes have involved replacing redundant blocks of conifers with broadleaf trees.This winter’s snowy weather delayed work on some sites, but tree felling at Selset Reservoir, County Durham continued during the worst of the snow and ice, with contractor Mike Lopez travelling to site by tractor and accessing the felling site across snow drifts by all-terrain vehicle. Ten thousand new trees have been planted at this site, protected by new stock-proof fencing. Kissing gates allow good public access into the new woodlands, so visitors to Selset Reservoir this year will be able to see how the new trees are growing.
Further north at Durham County Council’s Pow Hill Country Park, near Edmundbyers, woodsmen Chris Wadsworth and Andy Iredale were busy felling and extracting conifer trees. The site is within the Pow Hill Bog Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and care had to be taken to remove timber from the site without damaging the surrounding habitats. Both Chris and Andy are experienced at working in sensitive habitats, and Chris’ horse Ouragan made light work of the task. In early March staff from the North Pennines AONB Partnership together with Durham County Council countryside ranger Dave Liddle braved the cold weather to plant 100 new trees at the site.
The AONB Partnershiphas also teamed up with Defence Estates to enable eight hectares of woodland to be planted on MOD land at Warcop, Cumbria. Schools from the Eden valley joined in the fun, and helped MOD personnel to plant the first phase of the scheme, that will see over 6,000 trees planted by volunteers. The second phase will be planted during December this year. Well done to all those who took part!
01/12/2009 15:19: Horse power boosts Pennine effort
The latest recruit in the drive to maintain and improve the dramatic landscape of the North Pennines started work in September.
Ouragan the heavy horse joined the team at the Pow Hill Country Park near Edmundbyers in County Durham, helping to clear conifers to make way for native broadleaf woodland.
The work is part of the North Pennines AONB Partnership's Living North Pennines woodland project which brings together agencies, council and funders to create biodiverse woodland habitat. £174,229 funding for this project was donated by SITA Trust.
Ouragan, a French Percheron heavy horse will be assisting in extracting timber over the site’s rough terrain while ensuring the damage to surrounding plant life is kept to a minimum. Specialist woodsman Chris Wadsworth, who works with Ouragan, explains: ‘Ouragan is still a young horse but he works very sweetly despite his name which means Hurricane in French’.
Once clearance work is complete members of the general public will be able to assist in replanting the woodland.