It is great to track changes in the wood, especially in relation to rhododendron clearance.
Look at the two pictures below: the upper was taken a week ago (June 2020) and shows an oak in full leaf, plus oaks behind, also with a good canopy. All the rhododendron has been cleared (the leaves have turned brown). A gully is now clearly visible.
Compare it with the lower picture taken in December 2019. We had just cleared around the oak – you can see the evergreen rhododendron behind, still in full leaf, whilst the oak is dormant. None of the oaks behind are visible, being still obscured by the dense rhododendron thicket. The gully is not visible.
You can see how we are resetting the ecology in relation to light. The oaks now have a great photosynthesising opportunity and can recover their vigour, having been suppressed for many decades by the presence of the rhododendron.
bioregioning 