Unhealthy trees - advice please

[woodlady]

I am a complete newbie and having purchased a small woodland only last year, I apologise in advance for displaying my ignorance by asking this question….. The trees are round 25 years old but many have been ravaged by squirrels, particularly the beech and oak. I am taking steps to try to control the squirrels but many, many of the tree branches are so damaged they are just breaking off and taking out much of the canopy with it. On the worst trees there are not many branches or canopy left (mainly the oak) but I notice they are still trying to fight for life and push out new shoots from the remaining branches …..so before all the damaged branches fall and the tree maybe dies, would it be best to coppice or pollard the worst ones now, so that at least the tree might have a chance to survive? I should say that I only want the woodland to be for both our own enjoyment and that of the natural habitat (apart from the squirrels, that is!), so I am not bothered about getting good quality timber. There is already quite a bit of standing deadwood so I’d rather keep these trees alive if possible plus if I lose the Ash to Chalara as well, I won’t have a woodland left. Any advice would really be appreciated as I don’t want to do the wrong thing.

[The Barrowers]

Hello
It cant be all as bad as you are making it sound
How big is the wood and what area of the country?

[woodlady]

Hello The Barrowers,
Thank you for your reply. Yes, maybe I have made it sound worse than it is - trouble is, being a complete novice I don't really know what is "normal". The oaks especially look in a very sorry state to me and I seem to remember reading that if a tree loses more than 25% (??) if its crown, it will die - so seeing that this is happening to a lot of the oaks and also to the beech, albeit to a lesser extent, I'd like to save them if I can. The ash and silver birch, on the other hand seem very healthy and largely untouched by the squirrels. The woodland is in Devon and very small - probably only takes up about 1.5 to 2 acres.

[splodger]

if you have little in the way of experience in woodland management / ownership - and are worried about the state of your trees - i would seriously get a professional in to look at your site - get a though report done (and try to follow their advice)

[Stephen1]

Hello woodlady

If you aim in woodland ownership is providing habitat and enjoyment then I wouldn't worry too much! If your woodland is 'detached' then certainly keep going with the squirrel control if it's part of a larger wood and there isn't a coordinated plan for control amongst the other owners then don't waste your time and money.

It's not really possible to state that a tree dies if it loses x% of its canopy. Many trees will die after squirrels have taken a complete ring of bark off - but only if they are then shaded under the canopy of growth from the adjacent trees (which will then grow faster as they get extra light). On the whole though the majority of trees at the age yours are (25) won't die.

Squirrel attack on the scale you describe will make the transition to closed high canopy woodland very slow - and the trees themselves will be of very low economic value- however the ecological value will be every bit as high. A wood of such small size doesn't really have any 'core' deep woodland area - in woodland terms it's really all 'edge' - no true deep woodland habitat just transitional field to wood habitat. This sort of habitat is often of highest ecological value if it is constantly disturbed - the squirrels are doing that for you for free. They're constantly opening the canopy, changing the patterns of light reaching adjacent trees and the woodland floor.

If you try and think of the woodland as a whole, and as a dynamic web of interactions, and keep your focus off individual trees, then I think you'll be happier! For example with our less than predicatble weather over the last decade or so, the squirrels do some woodland moths and butterflies a favour. Those that lay their eggs to coincide with the first flush of leaves. In the case of those feeding on oak they have to time this right - so they get the fresh new leaves before the oak fills the leaves full of chemicals like tannin which make them unpalatable and undigestibe. In your wood though the oaks will continually be responding to damage by putting out fresh tanin-free growth.

Of course there are many advantages to no squirrels and I wish there weren't any greys around but it's not all bad news - they shape woodland and along with deer are certainly now a keystone species in the 21st century woodland web. I think you have to take the view of if you've got lemons make lemonade. The squirrels will shape your wood but try and focus on the species that benefit from their activity. They won't 'kill' your wood - there will always be tree cover - but the time before there are big trees in your woodland will be greatly increased and it probably will never look like a typical 'estate' managed woodland of tall trees with straight trunks. It will be what it is a 'wildish' wood at in devon full of light with great invertebrate diversity and all the species that benefit from high levels of disturbance - and at less than 2 acres that sounds like a good approach to take (to me!).

[Alex]

Sorry to jump on this topic, but I've always wondered when the best time of year is for killing and eating squirrels. Is there a best time of year?

[Stephen1]

To give the oak a chance, you could try planting a few other trees that the squirrels will prefer as a distraction, such as coppicing sweet chestnut.

It's a seductively elegant and simple sounding idea, unfortunately none of the empirical studies done using so called 'sacrifical trees' have shown any level of protection to the desired crop species - infact often the reverse is true. It has to be remembered bark stripping by squirrels isn't a feeding behaviour, it's a territiorial behaviour that has become complicated in the uk because of the very high densities grey squirrels can live at here in the abscence of natural predators.

[Stephen1]

Sorry to jump on this topic, but I've always wondered when the best time of year is for killing and eating squirrels. Is there a best time of year?

Now - they've just finished fattening up for winter on the autumn seed/nut glut!

[Stephen1]

What nut glut would that be?

yes it's been a very poor year - but compared to any other time of the year the squirrels are fatest now - because its been a poor year they will have found less to stash away, but will nevertheless have certainly gorged themelves over the last weeks. I think where Alex and I live the effect of the washout summer has been less than in the 'softer' south but they will still be fat where you are just now. They will quickly lose weight this year though as they will have been unable to hoard a lot for the winter.

[Alex]

I've shot squirrels before, but never eaten them perhaps I'll give it a try.

Thanks Stephen.