Benmore Forestry Student planting Sitka spruce
Photograph courtesy of Jim Pratt.
The photograph shows Pat McAuley wielding the spade and splitting a hand cut turf of peaty material, levering the spade sideways to hold the cut open and inserting the roots of a Sitka spruce into and under the large turf. Once the tree was upright and spade withdrawn, the feet were used, fairly vigorously at times, to stamp the cut edges back together again and the complete turf left firmly holding the tree. Note the canvas planting bag holding the three year old trees for planting and in the distance behind Pat the spoil from a hand cut drain from where the large turfs would have been cut and dragged.
The actual planting site was just below the Bernice Gap, high above Loch Eck
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