Spring 2014

Another year has passed since I last blogged and this year is particularly poignant as Maundy Thursday and Good Friday fall for the first time on the same date that George died on – April 17^th/18^th. As you will see from the photos Georges Wood is very much alive and bursting with ‘spring in its step’. We have planted another 39 saplings – coincidentally what would have been George’s age this year – and the wood now boasts well over 100 new trees as well as those that were already there. All the plantings this year are native trees including alders, hornbeam, hazel, wild cherry, white and silver birch, oak, hawthorn, Scots pine, and beech. We have underplanted as well this year with dogwood, spindleberry, wayfaring trees, guelder rose etc. to encourage the wild life – also a couple of alder buckthorn which the brimstone butterfly loves and yesterday I saw one fluttering by! As I said in my first blog  I believe “the wood does not just pay tribute to George, but it is also part of his legacy to us!” and I am reminded of the following poem to share with you this Good Friday:

They Are Not Dead

They are not dead,
Who leave us this great heritage
Of remembered joy.

They still live in our hearts,
In the happiness we knew,
In the dreams we shared.

They still breathe,
In the lingering fragrance windblown,
From their favourite flowers.

They still smile in the moonlight's silver
And laugh in the sunlight's sparkling gold.

They still speak in the echoes of words
We've heard them say again and again.

They still move,
In the rhythm of waving grasses,
In the dance of the tossing branches.

They are not dead;
Their memory is warm in our hearts,
Comfort in our sorrow.

They are not apart from us,
But a part of us
For love is eternal,
And those we love shall be with us
Throughout all eternity.

 Earlier this year the woodland flooded and our stream nearly up to the bridge 

 

 Now it's spring and what we call our pretty duck has had babies -  can you count the 14!!!

 

 

Here is our resident water-vole crossing the stream - heading for home

And here its waterside appartments with great views!!

 One of the original 27 silver birches springing to into life

                         

The new wildlife pond under construction - just in view at top, our new owl box in the left hand alder

The owl box - as yet unused - we stopped seeing the owls on our meadow the week after it was put up! The over one hundred year alder holding it has a girth of over four metres - it is just .6 of a metre less than the largest alder in Suffolk!

The pond dug - waiting for a lining, water, plants  and wildlife! Above, top left the newly planted trees, and above central wild raspberry canes from last year - the birds get them all - hooray. And just to the right of them, if you can zoom in, some of the trees we planted two years ago. 

Newly planted trees this year

 New leaves on the poplar with sun showing off their lovely orange and surrounding it some of the Scots pine planted last week.

On the edge of our woodland,the poplars we planted two years ago - now nearly 15 foot high and with stunning whitish grey bark. The middle one nearly blew over in the autumn gales and has had to be uprighted and tethered!

         

Lastly the original 27 silver birches  - beginning to look like a proper wood!

Finally a really big ‘thank you’ to those of you who continue to contribute financially to Georges Wood. Also Jan, our dear friend and neighbour here, has enabled us to buy a quantity and variety of woodland anemones. This will add another dimension to what, with the pond as well, is becoming something of a ‘woodland garden’ to wander around and find that “Peace” which George put as the final entry of his ‘What I Want Now’. Again, as I have said before, these contributions mean that this is not simply my idea and endeavour, but is the joint venture of friends and family inspired by George himself with his “Trees”.