Many thanks go to Nigel and Elaine for elucidating us with their experiences of their first SWOG meeting and for the fantastic photographs which accompanies the piece.

As well as feedback from the ‘official’ SWOG meets, we  are always happy to publish articles about your own woodlands and what you’ve been up to in them, even better if you have some photographs, just email your contributions to me, [email protected] or sarah, [email protected] .uk  for inclusion in the monthly news letter.

Woodland Management and tree ID – Malvern

As relative newcomers to the world of woodlands – and the proud guardians of a very small (1.6 acre) very young (15-20years) wood with a very innappropriate name (Lapwing Wood)– Nigel and I were a little apprehensive about our first SWOG meeting. We had visions of a group of highly expert and professional ‘woodkeepers’ with acres of land and enough knowledge to go on Mastermind with ‘Woodland Management’ as their specialist subject. We are lucky to get the answer to ‘where did Robin Hood live?‘ in Trivial Pursuit!

We need not have worried. We arrived at the meeting in Ravensill Woodland Reserve and soon realised what a great bunch of friendly like minded people you wood owners are. I think we probably would have won the prize for the smallest wood – but we soon realised that the old adage is true- size doesn’t matter. We were warmly welcomed by Trevor and Phil in the car park and coffee was the first item on the day’s agenda. This was great. We all (about 16 of us) sat around the camp fire and enjoyed morning coffee or tea  whilst  hearing about the plans for the day. We all introduced ourselves and it quickly became apparent that we were a good cross section of wood owners  – all new to SWOG meetings  –  some local, some from as far away as Devon and Yorkshire. Woods varied in size and type – some near the owners and some a great distance away. Everyone was there to meet others, learn from each other and generally have a good time.

The morning session was led by Trevor and Phil and was an introduction to the history, make-up and management of the Ravenshill Woodland Reserve.  The woodland has public access and is also used for school and other similar groups to enable them to experience the many opportunities a woodland has to offer – from coppicing to building, positioning and monitoring nesting boxes. Trevor gave us a guided tour of many different areas and wildlife habitats within the wood and we were shown rare species of plants and trees as well as being reminded about the life of the more common varieties.

I learnt that dormice live in trees (I had no idea – always thought they had nests much nearer ground level!). We discovered what makes good habitats for all kinds of wildlife and listened to the not too distant barking of muntjac deer. We also heard the call of some young buzzards begging mum and dad for food – but being made to fend for themselves. (I’m sure they’ll be fine….)

I think we now understand a bit more about coppicing too, thanks to Phil. I was grateful to him for answering my question ‘what’s the difference between coppicing and cutting a tree down?’ without laughing. I think I get it now! Nigel was able to have a really good chat about chainsaws and what to buy (are all men obsessed by chainsaws?) and yes – he has done a course so when his new toy arrives he will be able to use it safely and remain intact.

We had a splendid lunch around the open fire provided by Trevor’s wife. I was absolutely bowled over by the campsite facilities and washing up station all constructed from wood (of course) as well as the various tools and woodland equipment in evidence – such as the pole lathe.

The afternoon session was tree identification led by Dr Simon Roberts– a real expert in the field (or the wood, I should say). Also an expert in cooking over an open fire – see pic above! I was pleased to realise that I was not the only one to get my sessile and pedunculate oaks mixed up (!!!) and I now know what a Turkey oak is too.

The day was rounded off by Phil’s demonstration of some tools including a drawknife and a great one for splitting a branch – I’m sure it has a technical term. There was much discussion about types of axes, billhooks, splitting mauls, wood grenades and the like and I’m quite sure Nigel was not the only one who came away with an equipment wish list .

Thanks again to all for such a brilliant day. We took on board lots of information and advice – we learned a great deal – and most of all we realised that our small wood is just as special as the 50 acres of Ravenshill.