Majestic beech plantation in a neighbouring plot

Gloomy is the keyword right now. We’ve had more rain and dark depressing weather than I can remember, so visits to the woods have been less than I would have liked. To add to my personal gloom, this week we discovered our lovely little touring caravan has been flooded out whilst in storage. It’s contaminated with sewer water too so it’s looking like a possible write-off. So a visit to the woods to restore my peace of mind was what was needed yesterday even though the weather was looking “iffy”. An early start to try to avoid rush hour traffic got me there for 8.30am. It was drizzling and misty when I arrived and only just daylight. I took a walk around some of the rides to see what my neighbours’ plots were looking like. It was very atmospheric, almost silent and I’m sure I had the whole woods to myself (human-wise at least). I could see some folks have been busy building sheds or structures of some kind and one neighbour has done a sterling job replanting an area he clear felled earlier this year. His plot contains a lot of mature larch and other non-native coniferous species and he’s keen to introduce some diversity with a mixture of broadleaf varieties. I know he reads this blog so well done mate – it’s looking great, wish I could fast forward a decade or so to see what it will look like then.

A neighbour’s newly planted area

I travelled light this time, just hand tools and food and drink. I started out finishing the tidy up task of my little logshed-cum-junk shed. The birch logs I cut last time needed splitting and stacking for drying so I needed some space. I find sorting and reorganising things quite therapeutic. By this time I was ready for a brew.

half-tidied logshed ready for stacking.

I wanted to make a start on coppicing some more hazel. Last year’s experiment of cutting a few old stools seems to have been a moderate success so I shall expand that area with a few more. The mild weather so far has encouraged the hazel trees to produce small catkins already so even though the new growth won’t start till around May time, sap must be rising already. I cut back two gnarly old hazel stools which need a bit more tidying up when I take the chainsaw and cleared away some of the smaller growth to be used to build a small wattle fence around my composting toilet. The gloom continued and it started to rain lightly. Time to try out my new ex-army goretex jacket that I bought just for such occasions. A fraction of the cost of fancy designer label jackets, it’s lightweight and storm proof and roomy enough to work comfortably in. I decided to take a lunch break and tried to find some shelter inside my crowded logshed. Just enough room for my plastic garden chair to sit sideways. It worked and it was quite a pleasant half hour watching and hearing the gentle rain around me while munching on my cheese and pickle sarnies. I think it’s good to experience the wood in all it’s variations, always something new to see. I do think I need a bigger shed though!

Lunch in my shed – not quite gourmet cuisine but probably a nicer environment

The rain lifted for a while, I finished my work for the day early and headed home before dark.

Gloomy ride

The weather has been terrible for a while now but Sunday was looking fine so I headed off for another session at my woods. As I approached the weather became wet and was raining quite hard as I struggled to get the padlock to the main gate undone. Eventually it succumbed to my efforts and I headed up the main ride only to be confronted with my next mini challenge – a small oak tree had blown down and formed a perfect barrier across the road. Still attached at the roots it was not possible to simply drag it. Still raining I debated – should I wait in the car until it eased (boring) or bite the bullet, clear the tree and get wet but at least I could carry on to my neck of the woods. Luckily I had brought the chainsaw and took the wet option. The bonus was a few oak logs for my woodpile, a fair payment for doing everyone else a favour.

Having had some severe windy weather, I was expecting to see some tree victims in my woods, so my first job was a walk around. The previous visit revealed a newly snapped of silver birch and this visit I found another one. This one was already dead and had been uprooted. Birch seem to be specifically vulnerable in my wood. There are numerous decaying specimens, standing and fallen. It’s tempting to get busy with the chainsaw to clear up and build the firewood pile but dead wood is incredibly important for a woodland for small creatures, fungi etc so I’m leaving most of it. It also creates features giving a more natural and wild look which I like. The last thing I want is for my wood to look manicured.

Time for a brew so I got busy and started my small fire off just in time for the rain to come down again. Mild panic ensued as I had brought some pea and mint soup to heat up for lunch too. I’ve been wondering about this situation for a while – what do you do to protect your fire when it rains, or do you just accept it as one of those things. I grabbed an old wooden pallet and propped it by the fire sloping over it slightly with the wind at the back, hoping it would keep perhaps 50% of the rain off. I stoked it up as quickly as I could to create more heat and flames in the hope that the rain would ease before it quenched it. It lasted about 15 minutes and I’m glad to say the fire stayed in and I had my hot soup. A new lesson learned too.

This visit was a mix of work and pleasure. I had a few chats with some of the neighbours, sawed, chopped and stacked some more firewood for next year and had a good look around for a possible place to site an old garden bench I am about to inherit. One of my short term aims is to provide various features that enhance the wood for myself and other visitors. To add a little magic and some new places where you can sit for a while with a cup of coffee and just enjoy a different aspect of the wood than the usual two locations I first created. I’ve already cut a few paths through the bramble to allow access into the more overgrown areas and I found one place where I think it would go nicely. I’ve noticed this spot before, how it gets some nice dappled morning sun and is also not visible from any of the main rides, so providing a nice private spot where you can disappear from the rest of the world. The first photo below doesn’t capture the nice feel of it and the sun had hidden too but I took it to remind myself of the location. The second photo was taken a few weeks ago and shows the same spot from a different angle with the sun lighting up a beautiful hazel coppice.