You might have noticed that we’ve fenced off an area around this riverbank tree in Barton Farm country park.
The tree is a Siberian elm tree (Ulmus pumila) – and it was uprooted last December during Storm Darragh.
What we’ve done to support its recovery
Instead of removing the tree, we’ve tried to save it.
Here’s what we’ve done so far:
- the tree surgeon carefully cut the tree so its base fell back into the ground
- we’ve fenced the area as there are holes in the ground where feet can get trapped or tripped and so the pressure of peoples’ feet don’t compact the soil and the tree’s roots
- we’ve taken away the larger trunks for safe keeping as they’ll be useful timber and we put the smaller branches under the tree as woodchip, to get the tree’s nutrients back into its roots.
If you look at the tree now, there’s plenty of new growth directly from the roots on the riverbank and shoots on the stem – so we’ve got our fingers crossed this approach will give the tree its best chance to recover.
If you take a seat on one of the logs we’ve left for people to sit on, you’ll see some small shoots growing – but they’re only surviving on the nutrients still inside the wood.
