An example of land bouncing back.
by Liz Sutcliffe
29th August 2024
If the last few years have taught me anything at Heggs; it’s trusting in the process. In my case, that’s the process of nature restoring and rebalancing itself—on its own terms. From healing after groundworks to recovering from incompatible grazing routines, and woodland regeneration, the land has continually amazed me in its ability to bounce back and rebalance itself—with or without my ‘help.’
4 year old hedge along side of 2ha meadow, survived drought and flooding; no ground prep and no hand weeding needed.
The ‘problem areas’ I had initially identified are now thriving, self-governing habitats; and many of my maintenance jobs—like hand weeding and reseeding—have been scrubbed off my to-do list completely. Is this the result of us being 5 years stock-free, the increase in our rabbit control efforts, the particularly wet winter this year, or a culmination of all three?
Flood plain once just thistles and docks, is now regenerating into a beautiful alder carr.
I have no idea. All I’ve learnt from my experience is the longer I wait, the better—aka healthier and more biodiverse—it gets. So, here’s to more patience; a lesson I continue to learn as I tread lightly through this wonderful place, ever the observer…
This year’s explosion of ragwort isn’t causing any worry; I have learnt to trust in the process!
Bracken bashing, building leaky dams, meadow restoration. Read more about what we’ve been up to since we began our renaturing journey in 2019 at heggscastlecluster.org. Or better still, come and see for yourself at our YRN Summer Site Visit, Saturday 28th September.
2 year old stretch of new forestry track (once a ‘disaster zone’ in my mind) bedding in nicely and greening over at the margins.
Looking out over our 2 year old 30ha woodland creation. We have a 70% survival rate; lower than we were hoping for on paper but the resulting density actually suits the landscape much better and other plant and fungi communities are thriving.
[Images: Liz Sutcliffe]