Bog Myrtle & Peat

I have been reading my book on grouse. It is divided into four chapters – red grouse, ptarmigan, black grouse and capercaillie, but although I have an A-level in biology, I’m finding it rather heavy going. Graphs and tables can only keep my attention for so long, but I have picked up all sorts of trivia and jargon which I now feel confident enough to bandy around like an established authority.

Black grouse favour many different types of tree, but scots pine, larch and silver birch seem to be some of the most popular. The birds eat the buds, leaves and pollen from the upper branches, and the cover of mixed woodland provides them with everything they need, from nesting sites to roosting branches. As mentioned in previous posts, the Chayne is almost completely bereft of trees. The only black grouse on the farm seem to keep close to the surrounding forestry, and my goal has become to encourage them not only to explore more of the farm, but also to create habitat that will support them during their stays.

I am not a patient person. Trees have always seemed so slow and ponderous that I have struggled to maintain an interest in them for long, but this was a bullet that needed to be bitten. Black grouse like trees and if I wanted more of them on the farm, I would have to learn to like them too. I know that scots pine trees grow extremely slowly, so I put them on the back burner until I become older and more patient. Larch trees grow quickly, but they are not indigenous to this country and for now, I want to keep things local. From what I can gather, silver birch trees are a native tree species, they grow quickly and they are much loved by black grouse.

I went straight on to http://www.treesbypost.com and spent my last forty pounds on fifteen silver birch whips. I was rather galled to find that most of that price was taken up with plastic tree guards, but with roe deer running rampant on the most likely spots on the farm, it was a grim necessity. The miserable delivery driver couldn’t find my house and dumped the whips at the road end in the snow and now I have them; an unimpressive bundle of red stalks. They seem a long way away from being any use to anybody, but time will tell.