One of the strengths of Woodland Heritage is the network around it. Hundreds of members. Thousands of acres of woodland. Thousands of people working in forestry, making, education, conservation, campaigning and more. People meet. Ideas get shared. Good things tend to follow.
One such moment began last year when David and Mon Barbour, long-standing Woodland Heritage members, came to one of our events.
We ended up talking walnuts. Not recipes. Timber walnuts.
We covered everything. Germination rates. Species. Growth rates. When to prune. How to stop squirrels stealing the nuts before you get near them. Then the conversation moved, as these conversations often do, to the timber itself and the rich colour and character that makes walnut so prized by makers.
Several months later a parcel arrived. Out of the blue.
Inside were 9kg of premium seed walnuts for timber production. A gift from the Barbours’ woodland and sawmill in Oxfordshire. A gift for James Wood.
People support Woodland Heritage in many ways. Sometimes financially, which we are always grateful for. Often support is through advice, time and shared knowledge. This, however, was the first time support had arrived in the post in the form of nuts.
Following David’s instructions carefully, we planted most of them in early January. There were so many that by sunset we were still planting by headtorch and had not finished the bag.
With cold hands and fading light, the final handful were kept behind in a bag of compost until late April. To our surprise, every one of them germinated beautifully and were suddenly in urgent need of a home.
Those young walnuts have now been interplanted into gaps between last year’s direct-seeded oaks at James Wood. A small experiment for now. We will see what happens.
Book a visit
James Wood will be open as part of Open Woods and Workshops on 19 and 20 June. Come and see if the first walnut saplings are pushing through.
