The Pheasant of Holme Woods, flying right to left across the face of Carling Knott (photo from last year).

This shaped woodland is thought to be one of only a handful of woods in Cumbria laid out in a distinct artistic and colourful pattern.

We know it as "The Loweswater Pheasant".

Sadly due to Larch disease significant sections of the woods have had to be felled leaving great gaps in the woodland and spoiling the overall design.

There was a planting session for part of the track up to the bridge, back in March last year

Today I'm heading out to join a community planting day to "fill in" the cheek patch or the the 'eye of the pheasant'.

The tree of choice will be Aspen which will hopefully produce a suitable colour contrast to the remaining firs and pines as the seasons progress.

We gather at Watergate Farm where Mark and the National Trust team tell us of the plans for the woodland and give us a safety briefing for the day.

Our party will split into two, half planting the Aspen high on the slopes,

the others will be planting wild flower plug plants on the tracks up through the forest.

From the entrance gate, John leads the way up the diagonal path and turns to follow a forest track which continues on up to the left.

Not a path frequently used, but one which has been re-opened up as a result of the larch clearance. Its potential for long distance views have suddenly been realised.

We are following the lower edge of the woods and enjoy the view down to Watergate Farm and across to Low Fell and Darling Fell, on the other side of Loweswater.

The tree planting contingent make it up to the gap in the woodland.

The others will be working their way up slowly with the flowers, planting them as they go.

The Trust Rangers have already prepared the area with some planting stakes, ready for us to dig in our saplings alongside them.

However there are about 850 Aspen to plant so we'll still need more wooden stakes to go in.

One planted . . . only 849 to go . . . good job there's lots of us here today.

- - - o o o - - -

This time The National Trust have invested in bio-degradable tree guards rather than normal plastic ones which would need to be removed later. They are used to avoid deer eating the new growth.

The seedlings cost 80p, the guards (over £2+ and cost about three times the normal ones) plus the poles, so planting 850 trees is a substantial financial investment in the woodland.

A great start but its time for a coffee break for rest and recuperation.

The steepness of the slope that we were working on can be appreciated here, as can the progress in planting.

More stakes have been knocked in and now they all have trees and guards in place.

So we continued on till lunch, where we and the 'flower planters' gathered together around a new bench.

Apparently Mark and the team are planning to create a 'disabled access' track up to this point and eventually the table will be there as a great place to stop and enjoy the view.

John's photo of the full team today.

The photo includes Mark, Ellie, Anthony, Ian, Bob and Tim from the NT , plus a bunch of us locals from the valley.

At the end of the session it was a matter of gathering our gear together and stand back and admire our work.

What was a gap half filled with stakes, was now completely full of planted saplings.

Mark, Ellie, Anthony, Bob and Tim from the NT came back on Wednesday morning to finish the aspen tubing

and planted the Scots Pine on the lower right section to complete the darker green outline of the Holme Wood Pheasant.

I feel we aught to quote Grays Elegy . . .	" The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me."