Rise and Fall

The high winds took their toll on the tent. The fabric was fine and the guy-lines mostly held, but some of the fibreglass poles snapped. On a later visit we found more high winds had felled some standing deadwood onto the spot where the tent had been; maybe the fates are trying to tell us something!

Work since last post has included tidying up the last logs of last winter’s coppicing into piles, pulling and cutting the rising bracken, bramble and birch to keep the glade open for other plants, trimming back the opening from the field to the glade (so the butterflies can get in easier; apparently some don’t like flying up over trees), plus replacing spiral plastic tree guards (rubbish) with stakes and wire guards. These new guards let more light in, give more space to grow and are taller so offer more protection. Highlight has been discovering that one of our bird boxes has been used by some blue tits raising their brood.

Wooding, not blogging

First post for ages and ages. But we haven’t been idle in the woods. Over the winter we have been coppicing again; next to the area where we started the coppicing a few years ago. We didn’t get quite as large an area done this time as there was only me chainsawing (in previous years my dad and brother were more involved) but Tom did come along and do some felling with is axe so that was a help and julie has been doing a great job processing what we felled. Yesterday in the woods looked like spring; the honeysuckle and birch in leaf and the buds are starting to open on the chestnut too, the first bluebells are now flowering and there’s plenty of pretty little white anemones. The first few heads of bracken are also appearing in the clearing so managing those will again be a regular job in the months ahead; there’s also some birch saplings springing up which will need managing to maintain the glade for wildflowers and all they bring. As well as tidying up from the winter’s coppicing by burning most of the stuff that is too small for logs, we also put up the tent. This is our old one from about 10 years ago and if it survives the winds will be a shelter when needed during visits to the woods.

Swings and Roundabouts

After being led to believe (by the council) that permitted development approval for the shelter was just a cheque and form away, and after several months of follow-up to-ing and fro-ing, we have been forced to take down the shelter. Very annoying especially as they seemed to say one thing then pointed to something else. Advice for anyone else planning to build a shelter or whatever in their wood; provide evidence of what you are using the wood for (even if it isn’t asked for in the form) such as copy of woodland management plan and photos of work done; don’t assume what the council tells you is the whole story (we were told one thing in letter, but there was info filed online that we weren’t aware of that would have clarified the situation a lot earlier). Considering the location next to a SSSI and close to a public footpath it was the right decision to go the official route rather than finish it then have to take it down; but if in a secluded non-SSSI wood with no footpath then I’d think about whether to just build something with low impact in keeping with the woods and hope for the best. The most annoying thing is not taking it down, but that it’s OK to have an ugly steel shipping container but not a small wooden shelter.

The Bongo is great, easy to drive right into the woods and very comfy to sleep in. Our visits since last posting have mostly seen us doing general management such as cutting back branches and leaning trees to keep the footpath free and controlling the bracken in the clearing so that other plants can grow and increase the diversity. We have more variety there now including hedge woundwort, buttercups, nettles and several things we don’t recognise. A big thanks to Rob for giving us the IR camera which has captured shots of rabbits, squirrels, foxes, deer and a woodcock over the past month. Deer shots tended to be from their rear so we think maybe they have a circuit route they follow; we’ll point the camera the other way and see if we get more faces than tails.

Winter’s Work

It’s been a while since the last post but we have not been idle in the woods. A few trees at the edge of the glade have been felled and put to good use as posts for the ‘forestry shelter’ we are building. Construction was delayed by the local planners but they have now been provided with evidence that the wood is being managed for forestry and that seems to have satisfied them. This is inspired by the classic roundhouses but is unlikely to see any wattle, daub or thatch; we are building for practicality rather than reconstructing the past so plan ‘A’ will be a tarpaulin roof. A central tripod construction adds stability as well as supporting the roof timbers and doubles as somewhere to work with the fro that Santa Claus bought (he also bought an axe, both made by the elves at Grandfors). The fro will be really useful in splitting wood for walls and roof supports, and maybe sometime in the future we’ll supplement the tarpaulin with some chestnut shingles. We have also bought a Mazda Bongo which is a 4x4 camper van, so we now have more room for bringing stuff to/from the woods as well as having some weekends away.

So long summer, its September

Back to the woods again and, no surprise, the bracken has flourished; so second job was giving that a bashing. Then it was raked into piles so we could see if we’d missed any. Although the bracken is still strong there are other plants competing well with it including grass and some flowering plants that we haven’t yet identified. So hopefully if we keep up with the brushcutting there will be a better balance to suit the butterflies and other wildlife. First job was as usual to walk the woods to check all is OK and see what is about on this visit. Autumn has brought with it many fungi, from little brown jobs to glorious agarics. We also cut back brambles that were again encroaching on the path between car park and glade. While over cups of tea and soup we thought about the option of building a roundhouse and marked out where it could be sited so as not to be a visual impact on the wood s and be convenient to the glade and camp fire.

July. Stuff and Nothing

We finally got the time and the weather to camp in the woods this month. It was good to be able to have more time at the woods to do stuff and do nothing too. The something included yet more bracken attack plus cutting back some bramble, while the nothing included sitting about playing guitar and mandolin, putting rails on the tree camp and attacking cans with rifle and catapult. We also cut back the overgrowth at the side of the track so we can get the car in without risk of scratching it up and this also gave a bit more light to the hedge trees we planted there. For the first time since we bought the wood we have fox gloves flowering, one in the glade and a few more in the area that was coppiced about 18 months ago. We made the most of an early morning to walk from the woods over to Bedgebury pinetum, using our sense of direction rather than a map we got there but not necessarily by the most direct route. It has been very many years since I was last there and it has been developed with new car park, a visitor centre and café, plus a bike shop. It’s a lot more popular now but has lost some of its quiet charm.

Our campfire cooking has improved with no major burning of sausages etc and the jacket spuds were perfect. There’s something about the flavour of spuds baked in a fire that can’t be beaten. Sam joined us one day and took many photos of texture etc as inspiration for his artistic talents. It was good to have a visit by Silva Energy who collected some logs and we agreed what area would be coppiced this winter. It will be good to get an area coppiced and the wood put to good use by others, but we will also be keeping an area of the wood to work on ourselves more slowly, plus there is great satisfaction in the work itself and seeing the difference that you are making.

Jungley June

Having missed out on the chance to visit the woods in half term (car issues, there’s always something!) we managed to get there mid-month and the place felt quite jungley with the lush new growth of the trees (and bracken and bramble too). As normal our visit started with a walk around the wood to see what’s what before doing any work or chilling or whatever. The orchids seem to have disappeared and the bluebells flowers are long gone and replaced by seed heads now. The colours of spring are gone and the wood is now vibrant with the glorious greens of summer. We noticed some deer tracks in the mud by the stream, which is now reduced to a trickle. The wayleave isn’t as overgrown as in previous years so didn’t need any cutting back this time. Work focussed on controlling the bracken in the glade so flowering plants have a chance to get established, and completing the reopening of the track from the parking place to the glade. 1 tank of chainsaw fuel was just enough to clear and process the trees that were blocking the route of the track and level off some taller stumps. Rob turned up in his Landy which had no trouble getting along the newly cleared route, happily riding over stumps that we will probably be more cautious in negotiating in 4x4 camper if we do get one at some point. But for now the track will be handy for extracting the logs that are stacked up in the glade. Tom spent time plinking cans and attacking bracken with machete and brushcutter, while Julie also attacked bracken and did a great job of getting a fire going so we could cook sausages for lunch.

May; Blooming Lovely

The bluebells were putting on a great show again. I do think we are luckier than many of us appreciate to have such beauty in our native land. You don’t have to travel the planet to see how wonderful this world is. Our time in the woods in May saw more pottering than hard work. A start was made on clearing an old 4x4 route through from the main track into the glade, another tank of chainsaw fuel should see it totally cleared and ready to allow access into the glade for collecting the stacks of logs there; and maybe sometime in the future we will get a 4x4 camper van – time will tell. The tree guards were retied to ensure the saplings had enough room to grow, all doing OK apart from 1 beech which has given up. Julie and Tom spent some time managing the bracken in the glade and the seating / camp fire area was pottered with too. Bluetits are again making use of one of the bird boxes (the same one that was used a couple of years ago). We will move the others before next spring to see if a different location encourages these to be used too. And great news; the pile of rubbish that had been getting bigger near the wood entrance has now disappeared – yay!

April, Wet and Dry

The first visit in April found us driving into a very wet wood. The track was muddier than ever, not helped by being churned up by persons unknown including those who had increased the size of the rubbish pile by the entrance to the woods. Areas that have previously been, at most, damp, were more than soggy with standing or running water in some places where there was none before. It wasn’t all bad as the steam looked and sounded great with the extra flow. A couple of tasks on this visit were to tidy up the glade and attack some brambles. In the glade trees that had been felled were sawn to length and the logs stacked, the hardest part being moving 10 ft long trunks. Julie and Tom put the new brushcutter to use on some of the brambles that were growing near the path. We just got a cheapo Spear and Jackson one from Argos and its progress is slow but sure so far; easier than a machete or loppers, and cheaper (but of course less effective) than a professional machine. Another job later in the day was to push the car out of the mud.

A couple of weeks later and what was mud had mostly set hard and there was no standing water anywhere to be noticed. The sun was shining and the glade saw further tidying as piles of brash were burnt and some more logs moved to larger piles. While Tom did more debrambleficationing with the brushcutter. There were more anemones out, also primroses, violets and the first few bluebells showing their petals to the sun. The young trees are growing well and generally not getting eaten. Along the wayleave where we had in previous years seen 2 orchids, there were now about half a dozen starting to show through. Making the most of the sun shine (and the gap linking the glade to the field) we saw quite a few butterflies including a pair spiralling together.

Bleak Midwinter

That long period of snow (remember that?), plus travelling with work and keeping balance with other things in life has meant we didn’t get to the wood as often as hoped this winter. Instead of trying to coppice another half acre, which we wouldn’t have managed, our visits have been a little more relaxed. Work has been done on widening the glade a little to allow more sunlight in to benefit the wildflowers and butterflies. We now have piles of brash to be burnt or relocated as habitat piles. Many of the birches along the way-leave were bent over from the snow and these have now been cut back to keep the way open. The trees we planted from the Kent free tree scheme are doing OK, but those that were taller than the tree guards are now the same height thanks to the local fauna. Tom has been having fun with his new catapult and has been making an impact on his targets with paintballs. A good idea as the casings are camo’ and degradable and the paint is water based so doesn’t hang around. We are now looking forward to the arrival of spring flowers and warmer (and longer) days in the wood. However work will take me away again next month, oh well, only maybe another 10 years until retirement? We may have another session widening the glade before summer and I am also planning on getting a brush cutter to tackle some of the brambles (but want to leave some for diversity).

November Blow Job

Our first visit for a while and the main job was to check what damage had been done by the recent storms. Fortunately only 2 trees down as far as we could see. The first, a young chestnut, was soon cleared from the path. The other was the large birch in the glade that I had ring barked last winter with the intent of providing standing deadwood but is now providing leaning deadwood. Over the summer the birch had continued to grow but its leaves were smaller than the other birches so I was expecting it to die off slowly, but the weather had other ideas. Lesson learnt; if ring barking birch only cut in less than an inch (this one was cut about 2”). The storms also took the tarp of the ‘kitchen’ bender but that just needed tying back on. The stream was more full than ever and there was so much flow that it couldn’t all fit under the bridge.

We also planted more trees (like last year, these came from Kent councils free tree scheme). Some went into extending the hedgerow we planted last year by the track and creating a short hedge at the end of the glade (which we intend to lay to keep it low so it doesn’t discourage the butterflies etc from entering the glade from the field edge). We also planted a trio of wild cherry near where the path enters the glade, and a trio of ash near the parking space. This time we provided the new trees (and last year’s survivors) with guards so hopefully they will survive the attention of rabbit and deer a bit better.

August – Summers End

A chilled out time in the woods this month. Spending some of the time just sitting with the trees watching the world drift by with the clouds. Plus walking through the woods and reminding myself of what is there and how lucky I am to have this place. A new sighting in the wood this month (which I would have stepped on if it hadn’t moved at the last minute) was a grass snake sunning itself on the track. I also noticed a woodpecker hole in one of the oak standards that is now in space where the surrounding chestnut was coppiced last winter. A bit late in the season I did some work for the butterflies; cutting back the trees at the south end of the glade so that butterflies flying along the edge of the field/wood can now also fly into the glade. The bright green of summer starting to mellow, my thoughts turned to the coming winter (or ‘felling season’ as I’m starting to think of it) and where to concentrate my efforts. I’m thinking that instead of coppicing another half acre (which hopefully Silva Energy will do instead) I may spend time broadening the glade, cutting back some regrowth and maybe thinning chestnut from around the indigenous trees in the central area (leaving mainly oak, birch and the few rowan that are there).

July – Back at Last

After not being in the wood since early May, made up for it with 3 visits in July. Surprised to see just how much it had all grown up in just a couple of months. So the 1st job was to cut back the growth of some brambles and chestnut (that had been coppiced the year before) to re-clear the path from the parking place to the glade. Well, when I say glade, it was really a bracken forest and was starting to choke out some of the other plants that had only started to get established last summer. I did try bashing the bracken but it had grown too much, so the machete came into play and had a more significant impact. Also attacked some brambles in the glade with the loppers to start getting them under control there. The track had too much growth to drive up so the machete again saw some action hacking back the sedges that were hanging out over the track. Some of the trees planted last winter (Kent free tree scheme) were being crowded out so I also cut back around them to give them some light. Deer have also been having a munch, sometimes on these new trees and sometimes on new growth from coppice stools. One of these (an oak) has responded by growing a leaf as large as my hand (*wonders what largest oak leaf ever grown is*).

Was surprised to see what I though were ash trees were actually rowan and are now heavy with berry. The tree camps also had some work, the older one having a trim of the fresh chestnut growth that was crowding into it, the other having some more floor boards fixed on. There was also some maintenance work fixing the loo roof where a gap had appeared between two sheets of tarpaulin. The last visit of the month included a bonfire to tidy up the twiggy stuff that had been piled up from last winters coppicing.

May

Started with some ‘proper work’ stacking all the remaining logs in the area coppiced last winter and also piling up the smaller stuff ready for burning (or leaving as habitat piles). Having done that it is now possible to get to the last few trees that need cutting into logs, but this didn’t get done as the tree camp was calling for attention. The floor boards that were split last time were nailed down and we split some more and fixed those too. The floor is now over half way across and it is now noticeable that one of the main supports is not quite level with the other; maybe it’ll be left rustic but it would be good if it were possible to reposition it without the whole lot falling down when I undid the fixing. The bluebells were in full bloom and the wood is beautiful.

Blooming April

This month saw a little work done splitting logs to make floor boards for the new tree camp, they will need some ‘fine tuning’ to get them to sit right, but it was good to do something other than coppicing after the winter months. The bluebells are now starting to flower and look lovely sharing the woodland floor with the wood anemones. Another few weeks the wood anemones will be gone and the bluebells will dominate the wood in all their full glory. The ferns along the gill are also putting on new growth as they prepare to move from spring to summer. By the new tree camp there is a single solitary cuckooplant, something I haven’t noticed in this wood before. Up the wayleave the work keeping part of it clear is paying dividends; there are primroses, violets and bugle in flower, and the orchids spotty leaves are looking healthy. It was a cloudy day so no butterflies were venturing out, but I plan to get along on a sunny day soon to chill out and just watch them flutter by. Last summers regrowth in the 1st area coppiced is now greening up and will soon look very different. The old dead leaves and decay of the past seasons are being transformed into the lush greenness of the future and I am now looking forward to summer; new season, new life.

March – panning for gold

More processing of the coppiced wood, it feels like a slow process when you are only there once or twice a month. In addition to that, I also did a little work to let more light into the glade by felling a few small trees at the fenceline and ring-barking a mature birch at the south end of the glade. The intention is that as well as allowing more light it will also provide some standing deadwood for the wildlife. I’ve taken a similar approach with an oak at the edge of the glade, but in this case I am experimenting with partial ring-barking. I have left about 25% of the tree’s circumference not ringed with the intention that the tree will have mostly standing deadwood and present little shade, while avoiding completely killing the tree. It is an experiment and only time will tell how successful it is.

Silva Energy visited to survey what wood we could offer them for their new bioenergy business, so if all goes well there could be an income to offset some of the expense of woodland ownership. In an effort to generate enough cash to buy himself some dog biscuits, Che has learnt how to pan for gold; see photo below.

February 2009. For Bluebells Or Brambles?

A couple of visits this month and the coppicing is all done, we coppiced approx half an acre again this winter. Many of the felled trees have been processed, but there’s still a lot more logging and stacking to do. We can now see the trees for the wood, especially the oak standards in the coppiced area which last year were on the edge of the area, but are now standing more majestic in the open. The wood now has clear air across pretty much its full width, from the field boundary at the south, across the glade then over 2 seasons worth of coppicing to the track at the north. I will probably take out a few more trees at the south boundary to make it more open to the butterflies etc that will hopefully be making use of this space. In amongst the regrowing coppice that was felled a year ago there is a mass of brambles which should be full of flowers and blackberries later this year, so it’s an as yet unmade decision whether to attack the brambles and let more sun reach the ground (for the bluebells etc), or to leave the brambles for the benefits provided by its flowers and fruit. I may end up doing a bit of both. One thing that will be removed is the little patch of young rhododendron I spotted recently. Spring is definitely here and one of the signs is the ‘lambs tails’ on the hazel.

There have been no other thefts from the wood since the spade disappeared, which is promising. Although there were signs that someone had been in the glade, everything seamed to still be there. We are taking a risk leaving chairs etc in the bender, but don’t want to end up with paranoia spoiling enjoyment of the wood and having to lock everything away each time we leave.

January 2009. Dam it!

A couple of visits this month and we’ve almost finished coppicing this season’s area. But apart from taking off some of the smaller branches the felled trees haven’t been processed yet, so even when we finished felling there’ll be quite a lot of work left to do logging up and stacking. This time last year it was frustrating the number of trees I was getting hung up, but this winter there has only been one that needed winching out. There were others hung up but they were small enough to drag by hand. In fact that was partly by plan; when trees were most likely to get hung up then I have been taking out all the smaller ones 1st to create more space and reduce the risk of hanging up a larger one (yep, bloody obvious when you think about it).

As well as the coppicing jobs, there has been activity down in the gill with Tom and Sam (and me too) building a small dam below what will be the new tree camp. The 1st session was just roughly putting a couple of logs across and rocks beneath, but when we visited a couple of weeks later the river had helped by filling in the gaps with twigs, leaves and silt. The stream is flowing well and as full as we’ve ever seen it. The only downer this month was our 1st unwelcome visitor activity, as the spade we had been using by the dam ‘disappeared’. We thought it would be safe as it was away from the path but we were wrong, this now raises concern about how trusting we can be with other things we leave in the wood.

Nov/Dec 08. Two Years in and Planting

Only one visit to the wood in November due to other commitments, including a business trip to India. Both the business trip and the wood visit involved tree planting. The India trip was to audit a couple of lubricant blending plants and at the end of one visit I was honoured by planting a tree on the site. While back in Kent the county council’s free tree scheme had given us 25 trees to plant in the wood. We planted three hazels to extend their range in the gill, a beech in each of the north corners and a couple at the north edge of the glade, and 18 mixed blackthorn and hawthorn along the edge of the track. The beeches are planted to provide some great characterful trees in one or two hundred years time, while the others will have a more immediate impact including the wonderful show of white spring flowers from the thorns and the winter haws and sloes providing an additional food source.

December saw three visits to the wood with the focus on coppicing this seasons area. Progress has been quite satisfying with only one tree getting sufficiently hung up to need winching (that’s good for me!). Having owned the wood for two years now, there is still something new and this month I discovered that one of the coppice stools is of oak, the only one in our wood as far as I know. As well as helping out with a few wood jobs, Tom also spent some time on the tree camp in the glade, adding some extra rails and improvising a drum kit.

Back to Work

With leaves and chestnuts falling around us, we started this winter’s coppicing. The plan is to do half an acre next to last winter’s coppiced area, this will then be open between the glade we are expanding and the ride/track until the new growth fills in again. I still need to pull my finger out regarding what to do with the wood that is felled, including much of last years which is still stacked up waiting to go off for firewood (did have someone collect some, but we never really got it organised properly). To open up the glade a little more a couple of oaks have been cut, one very young one coppiced and the other (30 years old, I counted the rings) pollarded at only about 4’ because it felt unsafe chainsawing above that. A length of this one has been cut, split and roughly hewn into a paddle for the coracle. I thought it would be nice to have something made from this oak, but not sure a paddle was the right choice because it’s bloody heavy. Hopefully it will be light enough once the wood has seasoned and I’ve shaved more off it. The only flowers we saw were ragwort, but there are still some interesting fungi around.