As part of allowing the felled areas of Crag to develop as native woodland , Malcolm, who is a member of the Forestry Commissions local team,  spent much of this week planting and sheltering birch in Crag. After planting each tree Malcolm has been erecting tree shelters to protect the young trees from browsing and provide a warmer sheltered micro climate to help the tree grow and protect it from frost.

The birch that are being planted at Crag and at the east end of the valley were collected from seed from Ennerdale in 2005. The seed is carefully stored in the Forestry Commissions (FC) seed store in the south of England before being sent to the FC nursery at Delamere near Chester. The seed is sown in March and the young trees are big enough to plant our the following year. Amazingly because birch seed is so light only 100g of seed is needed to produce 10,000 trees.