Cave Hill Country Park, Belfast (2008)
Date: 14 March 2008
No. of trees planted: 400
No. of people involved: 23
Hazelwood is an area of woodland on the slopes of Cave Hill behind Belfast Zoo. Parts of it are being invaded by sycamore, while other parts are still very intact and a great example of how a hazel wood should look.
To be precise, the woodland is a “Mixed Ashwood” and is a habitat subject to a Habitat Action Plan. The dominant species is, in this case, hazel.
Owned by Belfast City Council, a week of sycamore removal – creating some large gaps – was followed by a day of tree planting to help the woodland reestablish itself and to replace the sycamore with something native to the site.
All the hazels were grown from seed collected from native woodlands in County Antrim, so making them especially suited to the site conditions.
Employees of the Council, White Young Green and the public came along to spend a wonderfully bright and warm spring morning on the side of Cave Hill.