Boundaries and Invaders

It has been a long time since there was a blog article, so to try and increase update frequency a little, delegation has taken place. This article has been written by the head of The Fencing & Boundaries Committee , Ron. 

All tree planting guides tell you to protect your trees from wildlife. Be it deer or rabbits or squirrels- though nobody mentions farm animals. 
One option is to exterminate the “pest” but we were not prepared to do that to wild creatures when this is partly a wildlife project. 
Fully fencing off a site is very expensive , tree guards a little cheaper. Given we don’t have anything to worry about that might “escape” the field, it was decided that we would take our chances and leave the boundary as it was and use tree guards where it was sensible. The deer were only infrequent  visitors (I have never actually seen one yet) and the bunnies would mostly be thwarted by guards. Nobody mentioned farm animals though. 

In general this strategy has worked well. Particularly early on. It hasn’t been without issue though. The yew trees did not like their guards. At all. Many died before I realised what was happening. Since removal, all the remaining (living) yew have recovered and the local beasties seem to understand their toxicity and leave well alone. 

Voles live on site now, but don't appear to do major damage

We had our first deer damage last year. It was minor , on easily replaceable trees and limited to one or two trunks. I am guessing the deer had toothache and needed the “asprin like” substance in the willow bark. I don’t begrudge them their medicine. The willow have now grown so quickly that I suspect they could now survive a fairly sustained attack so hopefully the deer won’t be so much of a problem. They don’t seem to have nibbled much else. Unlike the farm animals that nobody mentioned. 

Rabbits have made their presence felt in the last 18 months. Mostly on the baby Christmas trees. They Christmas trees were only supposed to be temporary visitors (to raise a few quid to cover upkeep costs) but we had perhaps thought a 10 year visit would be appropriate - not 1 year. They didn’t have guards on partly due to their shape and partly due to to the experience with the yew trees. Perhaps needles on trees don’t work in guards ? 
Anyway , having lost at least half the trees entirely , guards are going to have to go onto the remaining , highly nibbled , survivors. At least the bunnies are little. Unlike farm animals. Which nobody mentioned. 

So , guess what we had a problem with in the last 12 months? Farm animals might be a lucky guess! Specifically sheep. 3x different incursions from 2x different sheep farmers. Neither seemed as concerned as I was. Certainly not concerned enough to fix the fencing issue so it couldn’t happen a second time. One farmer was so unconcerned he left an animal on its own without water , trapped in bracken. Sadly it died - from natural causes or neglect. You can make your own mind up which was the most likely - but none of the other un-trapped sheep died that week - just sayin. The local council animal welfare officer was infuriatingly unconcerned - I pointed out that had it been a dog , they would have been all over the case - she agreed but still didn't seem keen to do anything- apparently sheep have far less to suffer!

The first incursion did a lot of damage. Several sheep were all eating leaves from trees at a great rate. The fruit trees lost all foliage below sheep height - they survived but several are badly mis-shapen. Many small and young trees were lifted clear out of the ground as they were chewed. Obviously those trees died. 

It was upsetting to see this happen repeatedly and more upsetting to see the owners not really care that much. Had it been a dog escaping into their sheep and killing sheep perhaps it would have been a bigger concern - or perhaps not. Who knows. A sheep’s life appears to be worth only a few £. The owner the second time tried to blame deer for the damage and offered to “kill them all”. Until I presented him with a video of his sheep lifting trees out of the ground. 

The last “attack” was before this spring when thankfully a lack of leaves limited the damage (the sheep mostly stuck to the grass). It leaves me worried for spring though given the lack of attention to the boundaries. 

In time this problem will go away. Squirrels will remain a problem forever but the trees will have safety in numbers hopefully. Until then , I will continue to rely on neighbours tipping me off that we have invaders (the owners appear not to notice). 


Ron Conmiel (Heading of Fencing and Boundaries Committee).