After lots of rain it was a beautiful sunny morning. I was keen to get some more serious work done but I remind myself that the woods are to be enjoyed first. So as usual I took a leisurely walk around seeing just what has changed, sussing out the plans I have been making since last visit and taking some photos. The sun was creating some lovely shade patterns on tree trunks like these.

There was a special moment when I stood still amongst the coppice and spotted a wren bobbing in and out of the brash. I played my bird song app on my phone (it works a treat with wrens) and to my surprise another one popped out and returned my call. As I watched the two tiny birds, a grey squirrel appeared on the ground and headed toward me, stopped and looked for a few seconds, then carried on it’s way. I felt like I was in some sort of Disney animation. For those few minutes, rather than being a human visitor, I truly felt like I was a component of woodland life. That’s the magic of being “in the moment” and trying to blend with your surroundings, quietly observing.

So the plan was to start building my small dead hedge using the brash from last visit’s felling activities and possibly cut some more trees in the same area. So that’s just what I did – another hectic, tiring but rewarding day. Another pile of logs stacked for seasoning and the little open glade I am trying to create for new planting gets a little bigger.

The “dead” hedge is situated around the northern corner of my woods, one side next to a track and the other side is the border with the next plot. It’s close to where I have been felling. The purpose of it is threefold. To organise the brash that is left after snedding the felled trees into a space that covers less ground, to provide habitat for all sorts of wild life (nice nesting for blackbirds, robins, wrens etc and finally to mark the corner of my territory and provide a something of a barrier to the open area I am creating. At the moment it looks like a pile of leaves but there are branches among it and as it settles, I’ll keep topping it up.

I got to try out two new “tools” – a post rammer which is a very heavy metal tube with handles and blocked at one end. You place it over the post you want to drive into the ground and let the weight go and it does a great job. The other item is a wooden tool box I made last week. It’s easy to lose tools in the woods, so essential to be organised to some degree. The canvas bag I was using to hold my various large tools was dropping to bits and was difficult to access. So an open topped, rigid toolbox seemed ideal. You can take it to where you’re working and see at a glance what’s in it and throw your tools in to keep them safe instead of having them lying on the ground. Next time – more felling, bramble clearing the area and who knows what else. There’s always something unexpected.