A wild and windy day at the woods yesterday. No sign of Bertie when I arrived or throughout the day. I’m hoping he’s just busy somewhere else. I wanted to do some felling but the tall lanky trees were blowing about all over the place making it a dangerous and almost impossible option. I did take a small one down, then gave up on the idea and spent most of the morning clearing brash and logging up the ones I had felled in December which I’d just left where they fell. I decided to cut them into four foot lengths and start stacking them to form a “cord” which is a measurement of four feet long logs stacked four feet high and eight feet wide. Green logs, being full of water, are very heavy and by the end of the morning I was shattered, having had to drag or carry them through the woods to where I stacked them. This is how it looks so far. Not very impressive but to get to this point involves a lot of manual work. I count about thirty logs here. They are bigger than they look. The larger ones had to be dragged one at a time, the smaller ones could be carried in twos but it still accounts for about twenty trips of 40-50 metres each time, often through tangled bramble.
At this point one of my neighbours, Steve arrived which was a welcome break. We had a walk around and a good chat about nature and our woods. At one point he commented that he could hear small bells, like those used on birds of prey and falconry. My old ears couldn’t hear them but shortly after we spotted another neighbour who was flying his Harris Hawk around the woods. I met him later and he told me his bird had caught a rat which bit the bird’s foot, causing massive swelling. As part of it’s recuperation, he wanted to exercise it, giving it the opportunity to land on branches of differing diameters.
A buzzard caught my attention with it’s mewing call. It was flying low over my woods and I was hoping it might land but no. After lunch I did a few small jobs and took some photos. Not much of interest to record. My next door neighbours have just felled four large trees on the corner of their plot which is opposite the hazel corner of mine. Taking advantage of the extra light where the two tracks join is a good idea. It will be interesting to see how this small area responds to the extra light in the next few years. This is how it looks now. They have some hard work to do to clear it up yet.
Steve had invited me to see what he’s been doing at his woods. He only started felling a year ago and had no previous experience so I was well impressed with what he’s achieved. He took me to an area in the middle which had been a very dark place. I was stunned and amazed at the transformation. He has taken down numerous huge trees to create a very large open area which will become an nice sunny glade. All around the edges were large piles of brash teaming with small birds. They seem to love this type of environment. Another area which will be interesting to see how it develops with new growth and wildlife activity. He gave me permission to revisit and include as one of my Woodland Trust fixed position photography sites. I hope to show you how it progresses over the next few years. We spotted a hare running around, then a Sparrowhawk flying fast not far away. I love seeing animal and bird life around us. It brings the woods to life.
It was time to leave. I took a few photos in my hazel coppice and in the foreground, it shows the regrowth of three stools that were cut right back two years ago. Now standing about three metres high. Very satisfying.
