January Clearance

It’s the start of the new year, but not the start of the forestry work as we have been well underway with various works for the last couple of months or so. As it’s the new year though we have started on something fresh to start it off. 

From Cobb’s Wood farm, beyond the field of horses lies a little copse of woodland where we are currently carrying out planned felling work. Well, I say little copse but it’s actually one part of the main Cobb’s Wood so not that little!

Of course the first challenge is the crossing of the horse field, which can be quite entertaining when you’re a bit clumsy like me who manages to find all the holes that jump out and then get accused of being on the whisky again! No names mentioned of course J. Usually the only two residents are Simon’s big Dutch Drafts, which are used to haul out the big loads of timber. For more information check out our companion site at https://sadeik.wordpress.com (Shameless plug #1).

Once at the far gate it’s a small trek to the working site to cut down some more trees. Before you wave your arms in horror at the prospect, it’s part of a planned scheme, I think as part of the HSL but it might be forestry commission or something like that. Either way it’s done for a reason and encourages tree regrowth as seen from previous work we’ve done in the area.

Hopefully you can see where the original cut was made and the growth of the tree around it. Ignore the buffoon on the photo as I’ve no idea where that dude came from! (For those who think I’m being rude don’t worry I know him – It’s me!)

The main problem we have with trees this young and also with the coppicing we do is that a lot of the time the shoots get grazed off by wild animals; mainly deer. This completely reduces the proper regrowth of the plants and in some cases ruins them altogether. Fortunately we are able to reduce the munjac deer numbers on the estate as one or two individuals have a shooting license, but more on that in next post.

The main clearance, or coppicing I should say, is done by felling the lines of Ash that were planted about 25 – 30 years back. Part of the reason is that Ash is quite a prolific plant that grows well and doesn’t take long to get to a height. Unfortunately this inhibits the Oaks growing beside it, so the Ash are taken out to give them some clear air.

Where's Paul?

For the ‘Where’s Wally/Waldo’ enthusiasts, let me present our own version of: Where’s Paul! Any eagled-eyed person able to spot him in the above photo?

Aside from that, the tree in the immediate foreground with the pile of stakes is an Oak. Now with an unrestricted canopy it can maximise it’s growth and do well. As for the stakes, these are cut out of the felled Ash and once sharpened they’ll be used in the upcoming hedgelaying competition the 2^nd February (Shameless plug #2). For more details check out shameless plug #1!

With the Ash trees on the floor, they are de-limbed and cut up into three metre lengths. Stakes are thrown to one side (literally!) ready to be pointed, while the timber is stacked on shorter bars for ease of picking up later on. 

Cutting, measuring & stacking, pointing stakes

As it stands I think there’s still a bit more work to be done before we move on to the next job, but it’s quite intensive like a lot of the work we do. By the way if you think I should be wearing my ear defenders on properly and not doing an orange ‘Mickey Mouse’ impression; rest assured I’m well out of the action at the far end of the row.

It’s also nice just being in the woods and enjoying the wildlife and peacefulness around us. Peaceful when there isn’t the roar of a chainsaw going off that is! Debbie (our illustrious photographer and forestry worker) pointed out some long-tailed tits the other day, which was a pleasure to see and all last week we’ve had the calls of Raven’s nearby. Foxes and even a shivery dog have been seen in the area too. The dog is actually Simon’s and usually accompanies us wherever we go; unless its tea-break time then he manages to pull a disappearing act just when we want a cuppa! But that’s another story.

One last word on the stakes; once they’re cut to the right length and pointed they are bundled up and stacked at the edge of the woodland for retrieving later. Currently we have just about two stacks with around 800 stakes in and easily more to bring out. Just don’t mention to Shane about carting them through the woods to stack up, as both of us did that all day over a week back. I’m sure my arms are longer now…

As always, photos are supplied by the lovely Debbie unless mentioned otherwise and feel free to check out our companion site too.

Oh and no one mention the Ash die-back ‘cos we ain’t got any here yet!