I took a friend down to the orchard Michael Wood along with my brother and daughter. Michael "Woody" used to be a Ranger in Scotland and is knowledgeable about land issues. He walked the land and looked for tell tale signs and has shown me some small holes in the land that are probably created by Field Mice. These are the likely cause of the new damage to the trees. It would also explain the birds of prey which have been seen on the land.
Michael has also shown me deer droppings and confirmed rabbit holes that I already knew about. He even found some fresh mice droppings in a small hole that was no bigger than the width of one of my fingers. The mice he claims will not be a major problem. I can do little about the mice at present without leaving out poison which may also kill birds and other small animals that may be around. They may even harm the birds of prey, so poison is out of the question.
I have added lots of compost from the house compost heap roughly 25 kg's for each tree, I have only managed to get 20 of the trees done, as transporting that much compost from the house to the orchard is difficult even with the help of my brother, woody and a small van.
My daughter has also been helping by putting out leaves as mulch around the trees. I have already prepared another 20 bags of compost which I need to get to the land asap then I need to spread it.
I have also purchased 8 new trees 4 of which are apricot and 4 peach. The plan is to plant them on Wednesday 18th February. These new trees are almost an experiment and we shall see how they do. As the climate changes they may do well in the UK, we shall see.
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