After a red squirrel literally crossed my path and ran up one of ‘our’ mature trees, I got the idea to behave like a squirrel and plant the acorns one of my customers gave me the way squirrels do. So, I made various small holes in the ground and buried a small handful of acorns in each. This mimics the caching behaviour of red squirrels where they bury acorns for sustenance later in the season. Only.. they forget some of the places they used and the forgotten acorns will germinate and become a new tree. By burying several acorns in one spot, the strongest oak will outcompete the weaker ones which in the end increases resilience for the entire forest. Mimicking animal behaviour is one of the things I am very interested in and another one we are trying to do is behave like wild boars. Not literally though! On holiday in the Netherlands, we noticed an awful lot of disturbed soils next to cycle lanes and forest walks, signs that wild boars had been rooting there looking for food. This opens up the soil giving seeds a chance of germination. So, in our smaller field we have done the same and will go even further by making shallow dips in the field in which rainwater collects as a source of water for various animals. With no wild boars living in Scotland, I feel we should at least try to imitate their behaviour. I’ll keep you updated on how this approach works (or not!).
More good news on the new very large field: my application at the Woodland Trust has been approved! This means that a tree expert will come and visit the site to discuss with us which trees we wanted to plant, how many we can get funding for and where it’s best to plant them. This has all been set in motion and we should see someone in the next couple of weeks.
By the way, my continuous contributions to iNaturalist (a website where you can submit wildlife sightings) has paid off when I read in the Woodland Trust’s development plans for Glendevon that the rare Blaeberry Bumblebee had been found at Glen Sherup, which is very likely to be my observation! I was even more chuffed to read that this species is listed as a conservation-priority species due to it being threatened by rising temperatures. At least some of my efforts into increasing biodiversity are paying off.