Hello from East Devon

[birchbark]

Hello to you all - have just joined as we have bought a house with a half acre of birch coppice and although enthusiastic I'm unsure of what to do with - when to cut etc. The area sits with both coppice and standard birch on a slight incline facing west and is full of wildlife. I hope to attach a picture and if I manage you will see that there will be very little firewood production. I'm interested in producing a peaceful place to be more than anything. I would imagine that any wood produced will be used in the other part of the land where there is a large veg patch etc. Any thoughts appreciated. All the best !!!

[birchbark]

I have absolutely NO idea why the photo is upside down ?

[Dexter's Shed]

are you in Australia ????

if you right click the mouse before uploading, you have the option of turning the picture the correct way up

[birchbark]

thanks - shame it's not an ash(es) coppice.

[splodger]

looking at that - as an attractive "avenue" of trees - it's a nice addition - don't know why you'd want to change it

[oldclaypaws]

That could be a very innovative method of harvesting. You just turn the land upsidedown and the trees drop out of the ground.

All looks very tidy so looks as if there's not a huge amount of catching up to do. If you want to coppice Birch, cut it ASAP, if its old it stands less chance of regrowing. Needs to be cut every 4 years. Both Birch and Sycamore are thought of as pioneer species rather than planted, so maybe they sprang up on what was once an unused area ? Sycamore has friends and foes. Some see it as an invasive non native weed, but it produces good quality strong timber, its sticky sap attracts insects and supports a lot of wildlife, and with Ash on the way out Sycamore could be an alternative. There are coppiced Sycamores 500 years old.Watch out for squirrels, they are sods for Sycamore, they'll ring bark a bough and can be hard on them.

The grass makes it look more like an orchard than a wood. Nout wrong with grass, but you might like to think about some ground flora and shrubs more in keeping with a wood- flowering shrubs to attract insects and birds and some bulbs for spring colour perhaps? Also don't see any dead wood, that's another important component of a healthy wood. Ground looks a little 'clean and green'. Needs to be encouraged to be a bit more wild and varied rather than manicured?

[birchbark]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm very keen to let it all hang out. I'll post some more pics when it's grown dreadlocks ( and get coppicing ASAP ) I've read that late winter/ February is the usual time to cut- would that fit with your experience ? There's some apple trees further up - Id like to make some cider next year too. I appreciate your words. Thanks.

[Dexter's Shed]

cider sounds good, any fallen or pruned branches from the apple trees can be used in a variety of ways, chipped to use on a smoker, carved into spoons, or sold to pet shops as parrot treats (they like to chew it)

[oldclaypaws]

Your comment about the apple trees, the appearance (with no dead wood and grassed ground), and the species of trees you have- an avenue of sycamores and young birch, tells me that the likely history is its not a natural wood as such, but a cross between an orchard, avenue and self seeded birch on grass.

Its up to you what direction you want to take with it. If you just want a nice low maintenance space to sit in, you've got it, and theres nothing at all wrong with that. All those trees will have a role with wildlife.

If what you want is nearer a small natural wood you are going to have to help it, probably by 'letting it go' a bit and maybe adding some of the 'natural woodland' components which you don't find in orchards- orchards are kept tidy to facilitate apple picking, woodlands aren't, quite the opposite.

Woodlands have an understorey which you currently appear not to have, this is an essential part of the ecology, with ground flora, funghi, leaf litter and deadwood. The understorey supports a huge variety of bugs, mosses, mushrooms, bulbs, which an orchard doesn't.

It would be a nice project to nuture an orchard towards becoming a small wood, but the direction you want to take is up to you. Its against many peoples nature to 'let things go', but thats just what nature does, and it develops into a very complex complete ecosystem rather than a precise human model of usage. Interested to know which way you might want to go. (assuming I'm right and there aren't wilder parts we haven't seen).

I'm rather getting into dead wood, there are some wonderful textures, creatures and plants associated with decay.