Paul Dyson

Entrepreneur, music lover, film fanatic, technologist, dendrophile, vegan, cyclist, ADHDer and autist.

Not necessarily in that order

less than 1 minute read

This is an irregular update to a short series.

It’s almost four years to the day that we started planting our new woodland in very similar weather.

Digging holes and planting stakes in a snow covered field
Planting stakes in January 2021
Beech trees in the foreground and Alder trees in the background in a snow covered field
Beech and Alder trees in January 2025
Trees in a snow covered field under a winter sun
Beech and Alder trees in January 2025

As I walked through the nascent forest to re-stake some trees and clear up some of the damage of recent storm Darragh I noticed this crooked Beech tree on the front edge of the wood to the prevailing South Westerly wind.

Crooked beech in the centre of a group if three on snow covered field
Crooked beech in the centre of a small group
Close up of crooked beech where the stake has been blown to 45 degrees but the tree is still growing straight
Crooked beech determined to grow straight despite the best efforts of the wind

I mean, on the one hand: “nature, innit ". On the other: "Wow!"

I was also pleased to see this little copse of Scotch Pine; surprisingly the least successful species in terms of survival rate: currently only 12 out of 25 trees still alive.

Group of seven Scots Pine saplings in a snow covered field
Group of Scots Pine looking not dissimilar to the Joshua Trees we saw in the Californian Desert just over a year ago.
View over snow covered fields to a break in the clouds and a setting sun
The next field to plant?

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