Happy New Year to you all and looking forward to my fourth year as a woodland owner. I have to say I have not lost an ounce of enthusiasm for it and it’s one of the best things I have ever done. If you read this regularly you don’t need reminding. Thankyou for following my blog and the nice feedback you have given.
The year seems to have gone quickly yet I feel I have achieved quite a lot. A mini review might be worthwhile. My hazel coppicing has been successful after felling several largish sycamore. The extra light brought more birds and dragonflies to the area and the regrowth on the hazel reached around two metres. Several more hazel stools have been cut to increase the coppice area and about fifteen new ones planted.
Two new brash hedges and an underground pit built to encourage wildlife and add interest. The felling of sycamore to create an open coup for replanting has progressed quite well and I’ve taken around ten more down this winter and more to come before spring.
I completed a full year of “fixed point photographs” for the Woodland Trust and a short film for their website. Sadly, my mentor and friend Robin has finished his role with the W.T. but we have exchanged contacts so hopefully he will drop by occasionally for a catch-up.
Several camping trips in the bag, an underground fridge and two new fireplaces built, plus a shavehorse for wood working. Sadly, ash dieback disease was first spotted.
Yesterday was frosty but sunny. My daughter bought me a small tarp for Christmas. It’s called a Magic Carpet made by DD hammocks. It can be used as a quick form of shelter or as a groundsheet. It’s small and light so can be kept in my bag or taken on my walks and bushcrafty adventures. I was keen to try it out and find a suitable spot in the woods for it. I love it. Dare I say I’m looking forward to a bit of rain to try it out for real. Shouldn’t have to wait too long for that!
My main job for the day was to fell some more sycamore in the coup. I took four down. Two got hung up but with the help of my neighbours, we were able to get a rope around them and shake then sideways until they fell. They were all quite tricky as their natural lean was not where I wanted them to fall. I used a wedge in the back cut to stop them leaning back and trapping the chainsaw blade. The last one I felled was in danger of crushing several oak saplings I planted a year or two back. I’m pretty chuffed with myself for missing them but look how close it was! By the way, the tree guard on the ground had already fallen over when the stake rotted.
The felled trees have been left on the ground for now as I am keen to get as many down as I can before spring. I can log them up later in the year. It looks like Armaggedon but the coup is starting to look more promising now and should let a lot more light in for the new trees. Some might ask “why cut trees down to plant more?” Well it’s part of the plan to gradually introduce a more diverse range of native trees into an area that is almost 100% sycamore to create a more semi-natural woodland.
The coup is situated close to the border with my neighbours. I chose that as they have a large open area there which allows a lot of light onto mine. Of course the bramble have taken full advantage of that and grow at an alarming rate. I’ve strimmed mine down and they have also done the same to a large area in theirs but the two were still seperated by a wall of bramble. I suggested it might be beneficial to us both if they were to cut the wall down to connect those two. Ground cover will have chance to migrate between them and it will also create a wildlife corridor between our two plots. They did that yesterday and this is how it now looks. I’m excited to see how that develops during spring and summer.
