An Impression of Goffin Land

For a plan and directions to Goffin click HERE

To get an impression of Goffin read Caroline Aitkin's reflections "Ancient hedges with some rare residents" posted originally at permacultureplate. blogspot.co.uk and reproduced below with her kind permission. 

Caroline teaches permaculture design with Patrick Whitefield and co authored Food From Your Forest Garden with Martin Crawford.

Think. Grow. Eat.

From Tawny Oaks, a smallholding nestled amongst the rugged foothills of Dartmoor, Caroline Aitken invites discussion on permaculture, growing food and cooking your seasonal produce.

Please visit Caroline's Think Grow Eat site for some fascinating posts on nature, permaculture and tasty healthy eating. This is her post on a visit to Goffin in Spring.


Saturday, 12 April 2014

an ancient hedge with some rare residents

 Last week I accompanied Patrick on a consultation job for a 90acre site near Exeter. It was a beautiful site consisting of ancient woodland and long established pasture with views out to the Exe estuary. It really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and when we occasionally came over the brow of a hill to catch a glimpse of the city it always came as a surprise. One of the features I loved on the site were the acient hedgerows with some very old oak, ash and beech trees. The oaks in particular were amazing, their knarly forms telling tales of coppicing and pollarding and, as pictured above, hedge-laying.

But there was more of a treat in store within this line of trees. The old polarded oak pictured above had at some time dropped a branch. This had cause some rot to occur, which in time had dried and cracked, leaving a protected cavity in the trunk.

Sadly my little automatic camera couldn't pick them out very well, but buzzing in and out of the crack were a colony of honey bees. This is the first time I have ever seen a wild colony of honey bees in Britain, and with the current challenges they are facing, it was a very pleasing discovery. I would love to know if anyone else has seen a wild honeybee colony in Britain - please comment if you have.

This is also another reminder of the importance of leaving standing deadwood. It provides a different habitat to fallen deadwood and is host to different species, such as bees, other flying insects, birds and bracket fungi. We must therefore resist the urge to 'tidy up' woodland in the traditional way of woodland management and aim to allow structural diversity to increase bio-diversity.