The Mystery of the Missing Quince

This afternoon I was able to visit the orchard to complete a section of stock fencing work at the neglected end of the site. Prior to our arrival I don't think that section of the orchard has received any maintenance work in the past forty years. There's almost nothing left of the original boundary fence at the railway end of the site. The area was heavily overgrown and also overshadowed by unmaintained trees. Earlier in the year sheep from the adjoining field were using this area as a route into the orchard. The neighbouring farmer should fixed the fence to stop his sheep straying but nothing happened. 

I had to remove a couple of heavily leaning trees to clear the boundary edge, but after that work I was able to install the final section of stock fence this afternoon. Hopefully this will keep unwanted two legged and quadruped from invading from that end of the orchard.

I was feeling quite calm and relaxed after the success and was checking the fruit trees around the orchard. We have a young quince tree (Serbian Gold) which is smothered in beautiful pink blossom in the spring. To give the tree a chance to grow I remove most of the fruitlets, and additionally the tree drops some of its own accord in the late summer. We'd been left with two good sized quince fruit on the tree. You don't normally pick quince fruit, in the UK, until early November, so we were going to leave the fruit on the tree for two more weeks. When grown in the UK they are hard and bitter until cooked. These Serbian Gold quince fruit look quite like a pear once the "fur" has fallen off.

One of the two remaining quince fruit has disappeared from the tree in the last 48 hours. If someone picked it thinking it was a pear they are going to be bitterly disappointed when they attempt to bite into it. I hope it didn't go to waste.

Perhaps the time has come to re-install the field gate at the entrance to the orchard to dissuade people from wandering in to the fruit trees.

Edit: 2/11/2016 The missing fruit was located.

Sheep Alert at the Orchard

We were driving back from shopping in Ashbourne and travelled past the orchard site. We noticed that sheep had appeared in the adjoining field. I had to rush back and perform some urgent fencing work to strengthen the weaker parts of the hedge between the fields. At the moment the electric fence is out of commission and there is a risk that sheep could stray into the orchard and damage the young trees. In theory the owner of the sheep has the responsibility to provide fencing ensure his animals don't stray on to our land, but he doesn't have a great history in that respect.

This afternoon I drove ten fence posts into the ground and installed about sixty feet (18 Metres) of wire stock fence.


Update 6th Feb 2016: So far no sheep on the orchard. My efforts paid off.

Roadside fence completed.

The contractor (Red Hill Fencing) visited the field yesterday and installed the new roadside stock fence at the top of the embankment. We'd chosen a lightweight fence wire as it is not likely to need to resist any heavy animals. Red Hill have done a really good job and we are very pleased with the result. Now there no chance of animals straying on to the embankment from the road. There's a strand wire fence at the foot of the embankment which prevents large animals from straying from the field.

New fence at the Turnditch Orchard site.

Over the next few years we'll regrow the hedgerow behind the stock fence using typical Derbyshire hedgerow trees and shrubs. Much of the old wood will be cleared during the coppicing process. When the hedge has regrown we'll have it re-layed in a traditional style removing the stock fence when it's secure. This was an cost unanticipated when we purchased the site, but is necessary for safety's sake. We'd thought the hedge was in better condition  than it really was.

We already had a positive comment from one of the neighbours who was pleased he could walk along the roadside foot path unimpeded. The clearance work by us and the contractor means people no longer have to step into the road.

Hedging started at the Orchard.

We called in at a local agricultural and building supplies merchant (Lester Lowe) yesterday afternoon to pick up a couple of bundles of fencing stakes. The merchant offers cracking good value for fencing timber. We'd calculated we'd need something in the order of 100 stakes. We plan to use some for staking the fruit trees and also providing fence enclosures for the trees. Our hedging contractor Adrian also mentioned he needed a few stakes. The stakes are rough sawn untreated wood about 1.5 metres in length and about 4 cm square. The first problem we faced was getting them to the site as we didn't want to hang around awaiting a delivery, so we took our Freelander car to the Lester Low site. With the back seats folded down we just managed to cram the 100 stakes into the back of the vehicle and squeeze the door shut.

Trees damaged by the sheep

We drove on to the Turnditch site to drop off the stakes. We found Adrian working on the site starting to clear some of the overgrown hedgerow ready for laying. He was quite concerned about the potential damage caused by the sheep chewing the bark of the bushes he'd cut down. They'd already damaged some hawthorn, but left the blackthorn alone. It looks like we need to install a temporary stock fence on our neighbours land to protect the hedge from the sheep for a few months. We've tried to contact the neighbouring farmer last night to discuss the options.  Oh the joys of restoring farmland, more expense!

Adrian also mentioned the gully under the embankment. His thoughts were that we could see some flood waters coming through from the other side of the road if the Ecclesbourne River flooded those fields with the heavy winter rains. He'd found the location where he was working had become quite boggy with the action of the sheep hooves and the wet conditions.

Increasing security and safety at the site

We've just ordered 150 metres of stock fencing, fencing wire, and staples for the site. We're going to run a 90cm high stock fence along the road side boundary of the plot. The hedge is damaged and poorly maintained so the fence will provide some basic protection while we work on clearing the site and coppicing the trees. If we don't install the fence there's a risk that people especially local children and/or pets could enter the site to nose around. Normally this would be of no concern, but there will be some risks while work is in progress. 

There's also a risk of farm animals straying on to the road during coppicing work along the embankment. While this work is in progress we'll temporarily dismantle the lower fence at the foot of the embankment, hence we need the roadside fence.

Longer term we plan to fully restore the roadside hedge by having it properly laid, but that process will take a couple of years. Once that process is complete we'll remove the stock fence at the roadside. The top edge of the embankment is mostly rubble from the road construction/maintenance process. It will be difficult to drive fence posts without causing damage. Where possible we'll use existing tree trunks in the hedge as posts for this "emergency" repair.

Planning the Ashbourne Road orchard plot fence

We've reviewed the roadside hedge on the Orchard project. 

The approach road to the railway bridge creates an embankment leading from the River Ecclesbourne to the crest of the road bridge. 

To improve the natural environment, we're going to coppice the trees growing on the south side of the embankment. The tree canopy blocks out the light and reduces the variety of species growing on the south facing embankment. The existing trees appear not to have been managed for many years. Some of the taller trees overhang the road and railway. When we fell the trees to create the coppice stools we'll have to proceed carefully. We'll use wire cables and winches to ensure the tree fall where we want them to go.  We'll probably have to take out most of the trees progressively along the embankment working from the river end toward the railway. This is necessary to create the safe felling space for the larger trees. Within a couple of years though there will be substantial regrowth from the coppice stools, but in the meantime other natural species will have the opportunity to recolonise the embankment.

The roadside hedge needs a lot more attention before we'll have it fully restored. There are gaps from deadwood and also from damage caused by a road accident. We need to make the hedge stock proof, so we are planning to install a 90cm high galvanised wire stock fence along the roadside boundary extending from the river gate to the end of the rail bridge parapet. We measured this and discovered we'll need to install 108 metres of wire stock fencing. The need for the fence is improve public safety and to reduce the chance of livestock escaping on to the road. There is a fence lower down at the foot of the embankment slope, but we'll need, temporarily, to dismantle the fence during the coppicing process.

Once the fence is secure, we'll gradually work on restoring the hedge using traditional layering and replanting at the top of the embankment slope as necessary. Our estimate is it will take about three years before it starts looking like a reasonable countryside style hedge. We'll plant a variety of hedgerow saplings in increase disease resistance and also to provide better variety. Once the hedge is properly re-established we'll remove the wire fencing.