Starting on Sunday 30th November and every last Sunday of the month going forward there will be a “walkabout” through the King’s Wood. These are nature rambles with some knowledge sharing paired with an old fashioned Sunday afternoon stroll. They will start at 2pm in any weather. If you haven’t visited the KW yet then these are a good reason to tag along.
I’ve been waiting for a rainy day to write the next KW blog, they have been few and very far between but today, 14th November is entirely a different matter, it’s lashing it down and looks set for the day. So this is probably the best thing to talk about and as rainfall and weather are an ingrained farmer discussion topic, what better subject!
There is no denying that the weather for most of 2025 has been different to the usual fare of a maritime climate. We started the year having had an above average rainfall for 2024 (673 mm – 602 mm average 1991-2020) Ditches running, brooks flowing with purpose and “most” ponds full to capacity. Looking at the recorded data, January and February were slightly below average, winter months are not generally high rainfall periods, cold air holds less moisture. There are exceptions when Atlantic storms come bowling in. March however was completely bonkers, only 2 mm of rain recorded in this location and masses of sunshine. My daily diary entries started March with “glorious day” and ended “another sunny day, warmer” and this was the trend for the remainder of the year up until today with the exception of July where a most welcome 66 mm was recorded (July Av 55 mm – rainfall data from the Met Office rain gauge at Monks Wood which is the nearest official rain gauge) So this all adds up to a staggering figure of just 47% of our normal yearly average rainfall amount to date.
If it hasn’t been raining its usually overcast, but no, wall to wall sunshine. Its more difficult to quantify sunshine data locally as I don’t have a fancy Campbell – Stokes sunshine recorder. However there are many sources for weather records most notably the Met Office.
How has this affected the KW? Not a lot would be a simple and honest answer. If we had planted this year instead of 2024 it might well be a very different story. One of woe and wasted effort perhaps. Coming out of a high rainfall year the tree roots got themselves growing and locked into the soil particles. The biggest problem was the intense sunshine making the new leaves transpire rapidly especially in the wrap around tubes. The thinking here was that leaf diseases would become an issue so the answer was to lift the tubes on the most affected trees. I did have to spend a week mulching the trees to try and mitigate moisture loss. Overall the outcome is mostly positive with some “tree-mendous” growth by most of the planted species.
A walk through at the end of July counting dead trees and shrubs put the overall loss at around 8% this includes 1st year losses and over winter loss caused by rodent damage to the area known as the root-stem junction. Lost quite a few oaks in late summer 2024 to what visibly looked like powdery mildew but transitioned into a virus and stopped the young oak trees from growing.
We are obliged to keep the planting density high for the early years so replacement trees have been ordered for a December planting along with lifting some sapling oaks, field maple and wild service trees from the Jubilee Wood to transplant in the KW
Mid month a group of scything enthusiasts met in the KW to help drop the grass headland alongside the brook and a bit more besides. Powered by tea and cakes the group was able to get stuck into some decent mowing. It was raked over and rowed up and then baled.
Scything is usually seen as the allotmenteer’s weapon of mowing choice. This has spread to user groups tending nature reserves, churchyards and amenity grass.
Nothing wrong with the power or electric strimmer, you just don’t have to dress up and feed* the scythe as you do with the powered options.
The down side is the raking up but if you want to improve your grass sward then you need to pick up the mown grass anyway.
Using an old scythe that has hung in the cowshed for 60 years isn’t the way forward, the blade is rusty and worn out and the handle is so ridden with woodworm it crumbles in your hand. Obviously Internet shopping is the answer. A height matched snath and a selection of blades along with whetstones for sharpening and a little device for peening (which I’ll talk about on national peening day) is all that’s required.
YouTube offers some scything techniques, suffice today if you mix skiing and Tai-chi movements you’ll find a scything rhythm that suits, otherwise get tuition.
If you treat scything as a hobby it offers fitness and an agreeable peaceful recreation.
The wildflower strip is still fabulous, pulling in winged insects from far and wide. Not quite as vibrant with the ox-eye daisy going over but still plenty of nectar rich flowers available. Hopefully there will be a good seed set for next year.
The trees have grown tremendously well. I just hope the lack of rainfall does not send them into an early leaf fall.
The pond depth at months end is 0 mm which is 0” in old money, evaporation has outpaced 14 mm of early June rainfall.
*A pack of “Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers” will power me for a morning’s scything.
In the following months I hope to inform, entertain and give an insight into planting and managing a brand new wood in the Huntingdonshire landscape. Actually we are already one and half years into the project but then woodlands are long term so it’s easy to backtrack and recall what’s already happened.
For ease of writing the King’s Wood will be the “KW” henceforth.
In the short time since planting we’ve added numerous elements to bring a wide and diverse backdrop of environmental benefit each of which we’ll cover in future blogs but I am very pleased with the wildflower mix. Every seed of the 17 species seems to have grown. This is a clay land mix that brings pollen and nectar availability to the insect world. Quite honestly I’ve never seen so many meadow brown butterflies.
There’s a notice board by the KW handgate and on it a monthly species list, calendar of events and a test blog! Check them out.
The final element to mention is the monthly KW “walkabout” , always the last Monday of the month at 7pm. Just a ramble around the KW with some nature topic(s) to be discussed or questions that need answers, usually lasts an hour.
Next blog will land in the first week of July as we need to include monthly rainfall figures and pond depth…….its a farmer thing!
Michael