Introduction

After the dowsing we received in the volunteer camping trip on the previous weekend, I must admit that I was to struggling to motivate myself for this one! Indeed a number of the volunteers who had planned to attend both weekends made their excuses for the second outing. Thankfully, those of us who did make it out found ourselves rewarded with more favourable conditions.

striking camp

In contrast to the Whitehope weekend, this trip involved a short hike to the camping spot and then a long (very) steep hike to the planting site. We pitched tent near one of the barns at Talla at the foot of Carlavin hill (55.46522, -3.34839). This campsite had the benefit of more flat ground, the adjacent burn serving up natures take on white noise and the barn for some sheltered socialising. There was even a composting toilet available so it was basically 5-star luxury.

Planting - day 1

Our planting site was towards the top of the summit of Carlavin hill, on the northern flank. The recently planted lower slopes soon gave way to a variety of unplanted areas of bog, scree and heathers. The tree stock had been previously deposisted via an ATV so we only had to bring our planting spears.

The planting site was varied, with seams of good planting areas sparsley dotted around the hillside. We concentrated our planting efforts towrads the favourable patches where we could find them. In these areas the grasses were softer and green varieties indicating (comparatively) dryer soil. We aimed to avoid thick areas of molinia (which is an indicator of poor soil and is hard work to displace) and sphagnum moss (which has its own ecological value and grows in peat bogs (which we aim to leave well alone)).

I planted at a liesurely pace but planted more than 7 bundles which is more than I would typically get through. We were not however using vole guards since they were not expected in great numbers up there. In the course of planting I did uncover what appeared like vole holes on several occaisions so hopefully this was a well-founded decision!

Evening

I was quite tired following the previous weekend and so after eating I made my excuses and did my own thing. This primarily involved revisiting the first location that I had voluntered in order to see how those trees were faring. It was really satisfying to see that even in a high altitude spot like T&G how much growth can happen in just 3 years.

Planting - day 2

On day 2 we made our way back to the planting site and the day progressed much the same as day one. It was another crisp dry day, great planting conditions. Nevertheless, by around 2pm enough of us were grumbling about wanting to get going that we could get ready for our work week ahead that Andy reluctantly agreed that we could start packing up.