Tree Planting in a Hurricane: A Tale of our Times.

The LettsSafari team spent last weekend tree planting in Storm Darragh. It was quite a wild experience.

Last Friday the LettsSafari team assembled at Exeter's Capability Brown gardens to begin the winter's tree planting programme, taking young saplings grown naturally using our rewilding techniques, digging them up, then replanting them in LettsSafari's nearby rewilding safari parks. We identified the trees to carefully dig out, assembled the tree guards, wooden posts, sheep wire and other materials to protect them and by the end of Friday we were ready to get going.

"Then Storm Darragh moved in".

Storm Darragh at Sea nearby

We could hear it whistling through the trees and shrubs that form circular, cascading layers across these naturally terraced gardens overlooking the sea. It was as though this north westerly wind was seeking to reshape the historic tree lines. Gusts started to accelerate and accumulate over and round the lower slopes of Haldon Forest that forms a bowl around the southern edge of this fast growing city.

Early on Saturday morning the wind was pummelling these famous gardens and the historic architecture that must have borne witness to many such natural disruptions. Some trees were practically bent in half by the wind. By midday, we were counting the fallen branches and small trees down - 2, then 3, then 5, then 7. It was a miracle that none of the large ancient Cedar, Oak or Yew were damaged. It was as if they had remained in tact centuries-old, defining the landscape, purely because such storms merely bounced off them.

"Some trees were practically bent in half by the wind."