Sunday 2 March 2014

Choices

On the hillside birch trees have been destroyed by SWT. When you get closer you see the stumps untidily cut and piles of logs and brushwood thoughtfully placed for maximum visibility.


A few yards away is a rhododendron now about twice the size it was when I first drew their attention to it. This remains while native trees are destroyed.

There are a number of places where rhododendron is thriving on Blacka mainly in woodland. It's commonly thought a wise thing to try to remove it. It's also commonly thought that you should do so when it's quite small and manageable before it starts to dominate. That's not what is happening here. From one year to the next it is left to increase in size. I think I know why.


The case of the woodland near the car park is another matter. If there's one place in the country where a case could be made for not eradicating rhododendron it is here. Yes, keep it under control and prevent it from expanding any further, but its value is unusual in that it provides excellent shelter for wildlife inside its encircling evergreen belt. Added to that is its value to humans as a beautiful secret garden effect inside which are trees of character. But this is where the managers have been unable to resist a hell-for-leather effect that brings in a good supply of grants usually administered and handed out by those who never come near the place to sample the workmanship at first hand. And this work has been insensitive. Two years of a wasteland border spun out with ugliness that could have been avoided with a better approach.. Doing it a small amount at a time and finishing off by disposing of cut timber and scarifying the land would have had a fair bit of approval.


But the temptation is to go for a huge amount and claim the most money. Meanwhile the smaller areas scattered around Blacka can wait. It's more cost effective to wait longer whatever the impact on the surrounding woodland; good for managers.

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