Yesterday’s visit seems close on the heels of the last one but time and spring is moving so fast now that I need to get some work done with urgency. I had intended felling the third big sycamore but I have an offer of help with it next week and there was plenty of other tasks to complete. A woodland neighbour had offered me a small yew tree to transplant from their plot and it is getting late for that, so that was the first job.

The priority task was to take some more fixed point photos for the Woodland Trust volunteer role. We have earmarked six locations – three in my woods and three in neighbours. These are areas where restoration work is, or will be active. The idea being to take the same shots four times a year to monitor progress and how the surrounding area changes. It’s more challenging than it first seems. Lighting is tricky with high contrast from dark woodland floor and tree trunks, to bright skies above, or it’s just flat and gloomy. The main problem is composing the new shots to be as near perfect replicas of the original ones. I have the positions marked for the tripod but as I’m taking multiple shots in a 360 degree arc, the starting points for each shot need to be the same. I thought I had sussed that by copying the originals onto my tablet for comparison but guess what? I forgot to take it with me! I had made rough notes previously and did my best from memory but I’ve got a lot of them wrong. It’s frustrating for a perfectionist but I like new challenges and it’s making me think harder about my photographic techniques.

I took my DSLR for these shots rather than my usual compact camera so the only photos I took were for the WT project. These are very large file sizes and not suitable for this blog so unfortunately I can’t post any interesting photos this time. I have had some feedback from a regular reader (you know who you are J.) that the blog posts have lost the facility to click on photos to see an enlarged version. I wasn’t aware of that because – well I don’t need to do that do I? I think the reason is that WordPress have introduced a newer “dashboard” for writing and editing and I’ve been using that. Uploading photos is done differently now so that might be the reason. I’m using the old dashboard for this one and will post a photo as a test.

So most of the morning was photography but I wanted to get some work done. Not very interesting to write about but necessary. The afternoon was spent cutting up the felled trunks and wheel-barrowing them back to the logshed and dumping them in a heap ready for chopping and stacking. In between trips I rested and took in the beauty of the woods. They really are coming into their best now. The wood anemonies are a joy to see, a carpet of green and white. The very first bluebells are just opening, so are celandine, violets and wild cherry blossom. Hazel and hawthorn leaves are opening and the very first sycamore here and there. I filled up the bird feeders and sat still in my shelter. In a short while a spotted woodpecker landed on the feeder followed by numerous small birds – bluetits, great tits, coal tits and chaffinches. A robin flew into my shelter and quickly departed after seeing me. These simple experiences are what bring joy.

Yesterday was glorious and the wood anemonies have enjoyed the better weather. Sunny and mild and the woodland was alive with birdsong. A pair of nuthatches are taking up residence in the dead birch tree that the woodpeckers nested in last year. I was hoping they would nest there again but I’m happy with the new folks. My main remit mainly involved chainsaw work. I wanted to remove some small stumps to allow my car to go further down the track where I shall try the car camping again later. It’ll also make it easier for loading logs and tools. The big job was to try to tackle one or more of the “big three”. These are three sycamore in the hazel coppice which I had identified as “victims” of my chainsaw. Sycamore are very shade-heavy and the hazel needs as much light as it can get to thrive. I always feel a little sad and guilty taking down big trees but it’s for the greater good and in fact the stumps will sprout again and form coppice-like trees which can be cut again and again for firewood in future. These three are the biggest I have tackled so far. Not the tallest but the widest and therefor scariest. I had been offered some help but that plan fell through and it’s been nagging me that they need to come down now before the regowth starts. If left till next next winter, the new hazel growth will be in danger of damage when they are felled. So it was with some trepidation I decided to bite the bullet and have a go at one or two. Tree felling of this nature, on your own is really not recommended but neither is trying to land on the moon!

This photo doesn’t convey the actual size and weight of the first tree. In fact it looks quite puny but the base was about fifteen inches in diameter – slightly wider than the length of my chainsaw blade. The curvey nature of the trunk made it hard to guage where the main weight would be – which is where the tree would “want” to fall when cut. You need to work with this natural balance but at the same time try to cut it so that it falls where you want it to. i.e. in a gap or where it will do least damage to neighbouring trees. I took my time and it landed perfectly where I planned it.

Feeling my confidence growing I set about the second one. Slightly bigger and straighter but in a trickier position to get it to fall into the gap I wanted. If it fell a little too much to the left it could get hung up in another big tree and that would have been a nightmare to release being such a heavy tree. Slightly to the right and it would wreck my cleaving brake and hit another biggie. No big deal but I preferred not to. It’s the big one centre of the photo and I wanted it to fall to the right. The bend at the base suggested it might. So that’s where I aimed it. It went with a creak and a huge thump, right where I wanted it. I was shaking with adrenalin but hugely relieved.

I decided two out of three was enough for one day and started the big task of cutting it up and dealing with all the brash. I got the brash cleared which took most of the day but there’s still a lot of cutting and chopping to do. I felt very pleased with what I achieved on my own and the experience has boosted my confidence, that I might tackle the third one later this week.

It was a real joy to be in the woods on such a lovely day even though I was very busy, I still got enough time to take in the beauty of it as it comes back to life for another year.

I’ve had a nasty, chesty cough and head cold all week which has sapped my energy levels. Having spent most of the time indoors, I desperately needed a day at the woods as a tonic. It would be foolish to attempt any strenuous jobs, so I made a list of small things that would be useful but not too tiring. I have several ideas that need a little planning and forethought; a new car-camping area, a small pond, a new tarp shelter by the logshed etc.

I had a really good look around, amazed at how much has changed since last visit only ten days ago. The wood anemones are in abundance and lots of flowers opening now. Leaf buds are bursting on the elder, hawthorn, cherry, and hazel and primroses in flower. This must be the first significant turning point from winter to spring in my woods. The floor has turned from a dull brown to bright green. My blackthorn shrubs planted two years ago, have their first tiny and beautiful flowers.

I watched a buzzard overhead, circling the perimeter of my patch and spotted deer tracks and badger scrapings.

Then I put the ladder up to the Little Owl nest box I installed eithteen months ago. Nothing nested in it as far as I know but I needed to check that it was clean and ready for occupation. There were signs of something nibbling around the hole and edge of the box. There’s a door on the front which I gently opened. Something had clearly made a home there at some point. It was crammed with old leaves. There were abundant creepy crawlies and I suspected it was an old nest but what creature had made it? A squirrel or a woodpecker maybe?

I decided to clear it out but carefully in case it was still in use, so I took a large trug up to put the material in. After removing the outer layer blocking the opening, I could see the inside was not as full and slowly proceeded to pull the rest out. That’s when I noticed a movement in the debris. Had I imagined it? Was it a large beetle? No the shuffling was something larger. Whatever it was, it was obviously unhappy with my interference. I watched for a short while but didn’t see the actual animal. I am guessing it was a mouse of some sort and I stuffed the dead leaves back in a closed the door. It will have a bit of housekeeping to do but should be OK. If Little Owls do decide to nest there later, they might find a ready meal waiting in the larder.

I was pleased to see that some of my groundcover transplantings last year have survived. I have one patch of wood sorrel only but the wild garlic and some primroses are looking good. I’m going to try splitting some ferns and replanting in other areas this year. Wood sorrel, below, tastes like cooking apples. Also it’s what the Irish call Shamrock. Popular at the moment with poncey London chef’s who add the leaves to salads. It contains oxalic acid which is not good for us in large quantities but ok in small doses.

I found a possible spot for a small pond, a natural hollow which always seems damp. My woods are very well drained and have no natural water courses, so it’s going to be a struggle to keep a pond supplied with water. I’d like to have one though, mainly for the birds and animals to drink from. A source of water is very important for birds to digest their food. It’s going to be an experiment for later in the year.

Another plan I wanted to investigate is to find a better position for my car when I try the overnight car-camping idea I had last year. One of the problems I had was being underneath some large sycamore tress. The the tarp I slung over to give me some privacy and shelter, got covered in the sticky goo that aphids produce. Also it was a bit too close to the ride to feel any sense of privacy if anyone should be taking an early morning walk. I figured out a much improved position just a few metres further into the wood from my car track. If I remove a dead tree stump and a couple of very small hathorn stems, there’s a nice area just big enough for the car, that is surrounded by tall hawthorn trees which form a canopy. That feels much more cosy and shouldn’t be bothered by aphid goo. The trees are nicely spaced to anchor my ridgeline for the tarp and it’s also next to the logshed and work area, making it easier in future for loading up logs to take home. Until next time, thanks for reading.

Quick on the heels of Saturday’s coppicing course, I visited again yesterday. The weather was fantastic, sunny and there was a definite feeling of spring stirring. The wood anemone leaves are starting to push through and I even noticed an odd flower on one or two. The bluebell leaves are fattening up and it looks like there will be many. I haven’t done any work there for about three weeks and I’m keen to get the hazel coppice area sorted out before the regrowth starts. I still have three largish sycamores to fell but I need help on those. What badly needed doing was clearing away some of the brash that has been left from the previous two winter sessions. Although the bulk of it went into the dead hedge, there were still piles here and there that were causing trip hazards and also taking up space where I want to do a bit more planting. So my first job was to roll my neighbour’s old oil drum, that they use to burn brash, down to my coppice. I set it up on the edge so as not to damage useful planting areas. It seemed like a nice steady-away job but it was hectic work. A lot of walking around with bundles of dead sticks and branches that behaved in erratic ways as I carried then across the the drum. Sort of like carrying an armful of octopi. That took up most of the morning.

The other main job was to move the poles that I had stacked on my cleaving brake. These are what I kept as potential stakes to support netting around the newly coppiced plants to prevent the deer chewing the tops off, which is what happened last year. Some of the poles were quite thick and if split, would make two or even four stakes. I put my newly learned skills from Saturday, into practise. Using a froe and the cleaving brake (a sort of frame that acts like a vice) I managed to successfuly split, or cleave, several of them down. You can see them on the ground here.

My neighbours arrived later in the morning and started to do a bit of felling. A small diameter larch but around forty feet tall. It looked like a wimp amongst some of the others but it proved to be a very tricky one. The nearby trees were close and full of high-up branches. There was no truly clear gaps to aim it at. The tree twisted as they cut it and trapped the chainsaw. It’s then a case of trying to open the cut with wedges to release it. We cut the remaining part by hand and it started to fall, as predicted straight into the next tree. Much pulling on a rope and levering wouldn’t dislodge it. My last remaining solution was to undercut it about four feet up so that the main stem would drop and hopefully release itself. It’s a tricky technique and dangerous as you are close up to it when it drops and with no sure knowledge of how it will behave. Well it took two or three cuts like that and a hefty pull and shove to get it down. Some of the smaller trees are the hardest because they don’t have the upper weight of the big boys to crash through the nearby branches.

The nights are getting lighter and the woodland is starting to wake up from it’s winter hibernation. I can’t wait to see things growing again but at the same time, wish I had a few more weeks to get some jobs done first. People often ask “What do you do all day at the woods?” As if  ownership is just a case of walking around or sitting and looking at things. Well the day just isn’t long enough to do as much as I’d like!

I was wondering what to use as my title for yesterday’s visit and noticed I had 99 posts so the 100th post seemed significant (but nothing at all to do with what I am going to write about). It’s a while since I was at the woods, having had a long weekend in “that” London as my Northern mate once described it. Last weekend was scuppered due to a central heating leak which needed my attention for almost four days. Yesterday was a coppice training day, organised by the Woodland Trust and one of the other owners (Andy) who has lots and lots of neglected hazel he wants to restore. He has very little knowledge of woodland management, so booked a professional coppice worker for the day (Alistair Hayhurst) and invited anyone else at the woods to attend.

We were lucky with dry weather and I arrived early to try to get a few small jobs done first. After storm Doris a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to see if there were any trees down. I only found two, very rotten ones had gone. My shelter was looking a little worse for wear, I need to make a better roof and add some more logs to the walls. A job for summer time. I measured up for a potential extra shelter – just a simple plastic tarp strung up near the logshed to give some more cover for logs and my workspace when log splitting and maybe doing a bit of woodcraft.

It was soon time to collect some gear and walk down the long ride to Andy’s wood where the training was happening. Alistair makes a living as a coppice worker in Derbyshire. He makes all sorts of products from hazel and willow. Few coppice workers have their own supply of rods to harvest and have to buy it. How it works basically is that when a woodland owner has an area ready for cutting (usually every 7-10 years) workers interested in buying the harvest put in a bid, the highest is the winner. They then go in and coppice (cut it down to ground level) deal with the brash and take the wood away to be worked into their products, such as hurdles, fences, garden furniture, bean poles etc. An acre of hazel can cost £1000. Alistair also travels around giving demonstrations.

We were a small but enthusiastic group and the plan was for Alistair to demonstrate the cutting and layering of the hazel rods. We would then all muck in and “attack” an area, practising the techniques and clearing under his supervision. Here he is explaining how to layer a rod using a traditional tool – a billhook.

Layering is a way of producing new plants and increasing the stocking density of the area. You select a long straight rod, around an inch in diameter and partly slice through, near ground level until the rod falls to the ground but still attached to the base. The rod is pegged to the ground about six feet from the plant which will send new roots down. After a few years, the rod will have rotted away, leaving a new young hazel tree. The parent tree will have sprouted new growth ready for the next cutting. We had a break for lunch and sat in the winter sun, chatting and realaxing for a while.

After lunch we did some more coppicing, then a demonstration of how to split the rods using a tool called a froe and a sort of wooden frame called a cleaving brake which acts as a sort of vice to wedge the rods whilst you work on them. The reason for splitting them is to create more material for your products out of the rods you have cut. It’s a tricky technique and one that requires plenty of practice and patience. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the communal atmosphere of working together in the woods.

What about the surprise visitor? Earlier in the week, Andy had spotted something unusual lurking in my neighbours plot and posted it on our Facebook page. It was a Rhea. It’s like a small ostrich, native to S. America. It was bedding down for the night. It seemed it might have escaped from a nearby house where they were bred. The house owners said they hadn’t had any for over two years so has it been on the loose all that time, wandering the area and managing to feed istelf? Neither the police nor the RSPCA were interested in doing anything about catching and re-homing it, so it is till resident for the time being. I couldn’t find it but I’m hoping to see it next time if it’s still around. Andy tried to catch it but failed. The story continues.