River bank erosion at the Turnditch Orchard

We had a nice bright sunny, but cold, Winter's day in the orchard today. The focus of the work was using willow cuttings to undertake some spiling to reinforce the river bank. The willow cuttings will take root and quickly grow next and subsequent years. The root system will help to stabilize  the soft earth banks of the river as the willow grows larger. I was inspecting the river bank while standing in the river today. I could see that the recent river spate caused by the recent heavy rain is undercutting the river bank. In places there were some small collapses of soil into the river. If you look at the junction of the river and the bank in the picture below it is possible to see the dark under-cut area.

During the year part of the bank was damaged by overweight farm machinery trying to maneuver too close to the edge of the river bank. This caused a deep wheel gouge next to the river fence, damaged the fence, and also pushed some of the bank soil towards the river.  We've planted some willow spiling today which will strengthen the top of the river bank once it has grown for a few years. The deep roots will help bind the soil.

We cut the willow wands from the willow grove we'd planted a couple of years ago in the orchard. We're using a hybrid of Salix Verminalis willow which grow 2 - 3 metres in a year. Once the willow is established we'll cut and layer the branches to form a low hedge at the top of the river bank.

Some of the harvested willow wands

We pollarded the willow at roughly waist height to encourage new growth next year. It also allow the bark to thicken around the base while the tender new branches grow out of the reach of marauding sheep.

While inspecting the trees in the orchard, after completing the spiling, I found a rodent, probably a grey squirrel, had damaged the bark at the base of the Egremont Russet Apple tree. It is so annoying because the damage will stay with the tree for the rest of its life. It just goes to show the tree protectors we'd installed on most of the other trees help prevent such damage. We've already ordered some replacements to cover the trunks of all of the young trees.

Hedge extension planning and spiling

Some of the hedges in the orchard have been removed during previous ownership. It is our plan to restore the hedges by planting new bushes along the original line of hedgerow. In a few years, when the bushes have grown large enough we'll have them laid in a traditional Derbyshire /Staffordshire manner to restore the hedge.

The first step is to raise some young plants in a nursery area on the orchard. As soon as the leaves have fallen this autumn, we'll take some hardwood cuttings to grow the replacement trees. We're planning on using a mix of Hawthorn, Hazel, Blackthorn, Elm, Ash and Oak. For the boggier areas we'll also include some Alder. We'll propagate the cuttings in pots in the nursery area with a target of 250 saplings ready planting in the next two years. We may supplement the local plants with some native Hornbeam purchased from a nursery.

During the winter 2016/17 we'll be planting more willow (Salix Verminalis) on the river bank using cuttings from the willow grove we've created in the orchard. The spilings we planted last year on the river bank near the road have been reasonably successful. This winter's planting will be in the lower section of river bank which is prone to flooding. The bank in that area is quite soft and is prone to damage from heavy agricultural vehicles used by the neighbouring farmer. When it is established, the willow root mass will help to reinforce the bank. This will reduce future damage and erosion. We'll pollard cut the willow over the years at approximately head height to encourage reasonably thick trunks. We can pleach cut and layer the trunks on the river bank in future years to form a living wall at the top of the river bank.

Willow harvest at the Orchard

We harvested last year's growth of willow from the grove planted in the Turnditch Orchard. We planted the willow (100 wands) in 2013 shortly after purchasing the land to form the orchard. This year was the first time we've taken a crop.

We were able to take about a wheelbarrow load of willow branches or wands from the plants. We've coppiced them to waist height to encourage the development of a trunk with thicker tough bark and provide future resilience from rabbit or sheep attack.

The field is quite soggy at the moment following all the rain we have had recently, The base of the willow was under water in a large puddle. Fortunately willow is able to resist such wet conditions without damage. Over the past few weeks the river has come close to the flood levels on several occasions, but fortunately the rain lessened and we were not flooded.

We were able to use the willow (Salix Verminalis) to start work on spiling the river bank. We were able to create a trial three metre section. We'll monitor progress during the year. If it regrows well we will repeat the process next winter.

The willow spiling is formed by pushing the thicker sticks into the ground (after using an iron bar to make a hole) in an upright position. The remaining thinner willow sticks (whips) are woven horizontally between the uprights to form a low wall. We also planted the butt end of most of the sticks in the soil. Most of the willow will take root and grow during the spring/summer forming a living green wall. The willow roots will penetrate down into the river bank in search of nutrients and water. The mass of willow roots will reinforce the river bank and protect against further erosion. The wall will collect sediment behind it during flooding and is not damaged by inundation. As the willow becomes established we'll have to periodically trim it back to stop it growing too tall.

Elm trees diseased and need removal

It is clear on in inspection some of the small elm trees near the river have become diseased and should be removed. This summer they suffered sudden and severe leaf wilt.  I've marked the affected ones with arborist spray paint (blue) and as soon as the bird nesting season is over we'll be in with the chain saw, winches and ropes to remove the affected trees. They are clustered around the river end of the field.

Wilted Elm leaves at the Orchard

We'll dispose of the diseased wood on site in large bonfires. This will avoid spreading the infection elsewhere. It is a pity to destroy elm trees which are no longer a common species, but if they are infected there is no option.

I saw some trout in the river Ecclesbourne while I was checking the trees. The water level is at the summer lows at present, so in places it is only a few inches deep, but the fish seem happy enough. They looked like brown trout. Part of the river bed is now above water. It looks like crushed stone debris. Possibly the debris is the result of the river bank erosion caused during the winter flooding. It demonstrates the need to undertake some bank reinforcement works with live willow spiling.

Muddy boots in the Orchard

The heavy rains of recent weeks have caused the land at the Turnditch Orchard Project to become rather water logged. It didn't help much having a herd of unwanted sheep feeding in the area. Their hooves have compacted the wet soil somewhat. On old maps I can see signs of an old water course across the land. This is is in addition to the River Ecclesbourne at one end of the field. This water course has been filled in at some point by a previous owner, but it hasn't removed the need for drainage. There's now a large puddle which traces the route of the water course.  The gentleman we have employed to re-lay the hedge also reports the ground is quite boggy as it sucks at his wellington boots.

Clearly we need to take some action to ensure the land is well drained if we want to grow fruit trees successfully. We've decided to fall back on an old technique used for hundreds of years to help de-water the land. We are going to plant willow in the affected area. Its roots can withstand waterlogged soil and in the summer it also transpires about 4 times as much water as other common trees. We've ordered 100 willow saplings (Salix Viminalis), some spiral tree guards, and some matting to cover the soils where we plant the willow. This  matting will suppress any weed growth while the willow sapling become established. We'll be planting these around the area of the watercourse in the next couple of weeks.

The Viminalis is native to the UK and will grow about two metres in the first year.  At the end of the year we'll pollard the willow at about chest height. This will encourage regrowth which we can harvest in later years for basket weaving supplies or firewood. We've decided on the use of pollarding rather than coppicing as a defence against sheep/rabbits attacking the bark, they are less likely to chew the older bark below one metre. We'll also use some of the willow we grow in spiling the river bank as mentioned earlier in this blog. This willow is also very conducive to insect life which in term attract a variety of birds, so there should be an increase in the natural diversity over that provided by hawthorn/blackthorn in that part of the field.