Marriott's Way   February 2017

Start/End of Marriot's Way

 

Post and Silver Birch tree

 

Post and stump

Millenium tree planting plaque

 

Oak and Silver Birch

 

Bonfire site

Not actually a field trip, but a site visit by three members of the committee; on 11 February 2017, we were informed of clearance work which had occurred at the Aylsham end of Marriot's Way.

From under a covering of blackthorn appeared a post to which is attached an engraved plaque, which indicates that Aylsham & District Wildlife Society had planted trees in that location to mark the millenium. Another label is on the gate onto Marriott's Way from Tesco's car park.

A little research found that the planting was a project led by Alan Quinn. It seems that 4 trees were planted, 2 Oak and 2 Silver Birch. The society paid for these trees, but they were sourced by Norfolk County Council; Alan's diary shows that he had a meeting with David Yates of the council at the site at 10.30 am on 23rd November 1999 and the actual planting of the four trees took place on 15 December 1999. The trees which were planted were about 3 feet high. One of the Oak trees subsequently died, and was replaced on 8 February 2001 with another silver birch.

It seems that far more clearance has been done than would be required just to maintain access to the path, and a lot of habitat (scrub) has been cut back, apparently without distinction between scrub and trees.

There remain one oak tree, nearest to the gate from the car park, and one silver birch; these look about the right size to have been planted for the millenium, although the silver birch looks a funny shape, probably as a result of being surrounded by blackthorn.


The two pictures below were taken on the day of planting and were supplied by Mary Gamblin