Grey, windy and drizzly when I left home yesterday but as usual, the weather at the woods was better and it stayed dry. My good friend Phil gave me some clear plastic roof panels to replace the tarp on my shelter. The whole thing needs rebuilding which I hope to do in spring. I took the panels over and stashed them. During my usual walkabout I noticed a Great Tit investigating one of my new nest boxes. It walked all around it and eventually went inside. This one is meant for larger birds like Nuthatches and has a wider hole – 32mm. Great Tits are meant to prefer 28mm. Someone needs to tell this bird!
My neighbours arrived and I helped them release a hung up tree they had felled a few days ago. I’ve been busy watching online videos of different felling techniques. The tree was well and truly wedged between a fork. The only thing we could do with this one was to undercut it so it would drop a metre or so, then using a long pole as a lever under the butt end, “jump” it backwards until it fell out. Success then I headed off to do some felling of my own. The target was two more large sycamore in the coup I’ve been creating. This is how it looked after I finally got them down.
The first one fell perfectly. The second one looked challenging to start with. Although pretty well balanced, it looked like it might naturally want to fall into my neighbour’s plot. I planned it to go the opposite way and made my first “gob” cut. As I made the back cut it felt as though it was tightening on the saw slightly, indicating it wanted to fall backwards. I managed to get the tip of a wedge into the cut to hold it while I finished the back cut. While trying to bang it in further it fell out and the tree leaned back, settling on the cut at a disturbing angle towards my neighbours plot. This has to be one of the worst situations to rectify. The tree was now unstable. It would be almost impossible to make a new gob cut on the back side as the cut would be under tension and would close up on the saw. I guess the solution might be to start a new one above it but I didn’t want to be so close to it for that length of time.
With the help of my neighbour, we got a rope over a branch high up. The plan was to stand slightly to the side and in front and try to pull it forward again. It wouldn’t need much movement to tip the balance back the way I wanted it and after a few tugs it fell perfectly. I felt so much relief and was thankful I had a helper. On my own I would have been panicking! We sat and had a coffee and I decided it might be time to end the felling here for this season and start clearing up. I noticed that some of the fresh stumps from a couple of weeks ago were now oozing sap. The first stirrings of spring and new growth. Some of the stumps will be allowed to re-sprout and provide some bushy understorey which can be coppiced in future.
I spend the rest of the day clearing some of the brash and pottering. I’ve been wondering how I can fix the mini tarp over my work table when it’s raining. Last week it caught me out and my gear got wet. There aren’t any trees near enough to it to attach the lines. I could move the table but underneath is full of logs drying, making it a big job and anyway I like the position. There’s a long thin hawthorn branch behind it which has toppled over forming a natural arch. I like that feature. I rammed a post into the ground and pulled the branch forward, lashing it to the post to stabilise it. Two tarp lines could be attached now and with the aid of two long vertical rods at the front, I should be able to put the tarp up sheltering most of the table. I didn’t have time to try it but here’s how the arrangement looks. I might plant some honeysuckle to wind it’s way up the arch.
