08 May 2026
Spring Notes From South Wales 2026
We went to our wood in South Wales over the first May Bank Holiday weekend. It was very definitely spring and everything was very, very green. There were few flowers – lots of Bluebells on banks in the older woodland areas, particularly good on the cloddiau in the holloway. There were Buttercups of various types, Herb Robert and Tormentil whilst wispy white fluff of grey willow seeds floated in the breeze.
There was an intense around-sound of spring birdsong. We counted 22 different songs and saw at least half of them plus a buzzard, and we heard a knocking from a woodpecker. The birds included: willow warbler, bullfinch, coal tit, blackcap, robin and wren.
What really inspired me though was the self-sown growth – woodbine, briar, willows and oaks. We were less happy with the brambles but they’re part of the mix, however vigorous and scratchy.
There are lawns of oak seedlings, perhaps 50 – 200 per square metre, and about 2 – 5 inches high. They’re strewn near the established oaks and there was a mast year last year.
What’s interesting about this is that the books tell us that oaks don’t regenerate well in the UK. They do have no problem in this corner of Wales, with others around there also finding no issue with oak regeneration. This suggests to me that it may not be the oaks themselves but something that people do that is acting to reduce the success of regeneration.
It’s fascinating to see how the oak grows. The acorn that’s on the surface splits open and a tap root grows down into the soil, whilst a stem grows upwards and a couple of little oak leaves sprout out. The tree uses the stored sugars in the acorn to fuel the establishment of the young tree. All it needs is for a few of the numerous little oaks to grow to maturity for the oak forest to continue. Indeed, I’m always amazed at how quickly the oak trees can grow in a year, with 1 – 2 feet of growth being fairly normal.
It means that together with the planted oaks and the much older oaks that we’re getting a nice spread of age groups in the woodland: 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 40 – 50 years and over 100 years old.
