We cannot stress how important it is to start planning your winter works early. Whilst the vast majority of wildlife goes into hibernation over the winter, for Thomson Habitats this is when our season really kicks off. It’s a time when works such as soft landscaping and vegetation clearance can be carried out.
Did you know that as well as being vastly cheaper than containerised trees, bare root planting stock in winter has a much higher chance of survival and requires much less aftercare. (The ideal time for bare root planting is from November through to the end of February.)
With several mega-infrastructure projects anticipated to be starting in 2016 including HS2, as well as ongoing Network Rail CP5 enhancement programmes, skilled resources may be stretched and specialist equipment could be at a premium.
On large-scale projects, there are always tight deadlines. Therefore, it is critical to start the planning process early, in order to avoid missing deadlines which can lead to knock-on delays further along in the project. Particularly, where there are multiple constraints on site. Our mitigation calendar and soft landscaping calendars are a really helpful resource in explaining these constraints and helping to assist with works planning. You can access them here.
We recommend that the following services be carried out in the winter months:
- Vegetation clearance
- Tree and scrub mulching
- Soft landscaping
- Bare root stock planting and rootballed stock planting
- Japanese knotweed excavation and burial
- Badger sett exclusion (end of November only)
- Artificial badger sett creation
- Dormice – above ground clearance works only
- Pond creation
- Stock fencing
If these works are done through the winter months, then the next phase of works should be able to begin without delay at the suitable time.
