March 2013 - What have you been doing this month?

[docsquid]

What have you all been up to in your woods this month?

We have been thinning an area on our Southern boundary. We call this the "plantation" as some of the trees have evidently been planted. The whole area is over-dense with trees, and many in consequence are in relatively poor condition. We have felled 8 larch trees (some with the help of a tree surgeon to climb and remove limbs while still standing to avoid damage to other trees when felling), along with a few oak, ash and holly in poor condition. We have a horse-logging team coming on Friday 15th to remove the logs and stack them ready for a mobile sawmill. In the meantime, I have been working hard turning some of the wood on my pole lathe, making stool legs, rolling pins, dibbers, cord-pulls, decorative bark-on toadstools and a few other bits.

What have you been up to?

[Andy & Heather]

Busy clearing paths through 10 year old naturally regenerating birch and brambles and marking up for new track. Can't wait to be able to walk through wood without having to climb up and down planting furrows, over tree stumps and through brambles.
Dealing with dead branches and trees in the overgrown hedge that are overhanging the public road.

Tried to attach a picture but don't seem to be able to download it.

[The Barrowers]

Hello All

Waiting for more snow in East Sussex

Repairing trees protection for my herd of 40 deer to break down again

To late for felling, bought a Portek mini 2 chain sharpener. Will try later this week when snow comes

B and T

[Rich]

Hello All

Repairing trees protection for my herd of 40 deer to break down again

B and T

I know the feeling, look at what the delequent teenagers have got up to,on the way back from raiding my nurseryman neighbours' trees.

To late for felling, bought a Portek mini 2 chain sharpener.

Let us know how you get on with it Bernie, it'd be interesting to find out if it saves much time and still does a good job?

I've been cutting a maiden stand of Chestnut, about 15 years old, some have done better than others. Speculating whether I'll be cutting it next time or even how they will survive... another tree disease or climate change crisis is always on the horizon
But it's spring even if the snow is 4" deep!

[The Barrowers]

Hello

Just sharpened 1 chain out of a "few", seems ok. It took a while to get the drift of what the instruction booklet was telling me to set up. I suppose they are assuming that someone who is attempting to sharpen their own chains has a modicum of "do it yourself" brain cells, well that's me out.

I relied on "you tube" demo to get the full story. When I'm passing I may drop it in, if you fancy a go. All I know it's very cold outside and T wouldn't relent and let me do it in the kitchen. No compassion!!

B and T

[Bulworthy Project]

Having finished felling at the end of February, we've been busy processing wood and making charcoal to prepare for a busy summer of selling charcoal and building our house in the woods. The groundwork is being done at the moment which is the bit that we're not doing, so we want to get as much charcoal made and as much wood processed as possible before that bit is finished and we're building the rest of it.

[Landpikey]

March 2013 was the first time we had a good go at getting some work done. As this is our first year of ownership we aren't felling any trees unless they are a danger. We have enough fallers and leaners to keep us in wood for the next couple of years anyway as we draw up our management plan.

The plastic tubes that someone had used a few years ago seem to have given the trees a few problems. A few birch filled out but failed to split the tubes and have rotted away at the base and fallen over. Some have split as they should and the trees are doing well. Some have also been well chewed by the deer and we have a fair few small trees that have been pollarded by them - well we will call it that for now . We're not quite sure what to do with the deer problem as we seem to only have 3 (2 of which have been caught on the camera and posted to the board!) but no doubt they will breed and become more of a problem. A friend has offered his services to sort them out when the time is right but as there are at least 4 wood owners in the area we will canvass opinion before taking action. If the numbers were reduced then we would ensure that they wouldn't go to waste.

We've cleared some of the fallers and chopped them up and stacked ready for logging at a later date. A nice warming fire with some of the brash kept us warm while we had our first picnic too! It was great to actually just sit in the woods and listen to the background noise for a change. The great tits (to be confirmed as I'm no twitcher) were quite brave and came to the fat balls that were only a few yards away from us if we sat quietly. With 2 x 5 year olds jumping up and down with excitement they didn't always stay too long!

[Rich]

We're not quite sure what to do with the deer problem as we seem to only have 3 (2 of which have been caught on the camera and posted to the board!) but no doubt they will breed and become more of a problem. A friend has offered his services to sort them out when the time is right but as there are at least 4 wood owners in the area we will canvass opinion before taking action. If the numbers were reduced then we would ensure that they wouldn't go to waste.

Yes it would be good to work in conjunction with the other owners, some species of deer are quite wide ranging. It might be that you need to decide what you want from your wood before you decide on what control or protection you need. If it's straight coppice rods you'll probably need to have a zero tolerance and have to go to quite a lot of bother, fencing and culling to get it. If you' just want some firewood and some of the trees are getting away, you might put up with a bit of damage, you'll find greater structure and variety in your wood... unless they get out of hand!