I've been 'away' for a while, but am now back in the thick of it and launching myself into the wood with zeal.
A year ago I started a bit of a debate when I asked how to remove big trees in a low impact way, as I wrestled with what to do with my overgrown semi ancient copse. Just to recap, I've 150 mature Oaks (mostly planted c.1880) on my little 5+ acres, with an overstood Hazel understorey and a good few AWI indicators struggling for light under a quite dark high canopy. I've spent about 16 months getting to know the wood, putting in access and parking, hedging, a bit of thinning and coppicing, clearing paths, and taking lots and lots of advice from visiting experts including local wildlife reps, tree surgeons, wood associations, and an excellent paid consultant, Ollie Frost. I've also worked my way through Oliver Rackham, Chris Starr, Ben Law, FC Guides and various Coppicing and Craft books, as well as visiting numerous woodland events. The result of this is finally a 'cunning plan', which will take maybe 5 years or more to take shape.
Having recently given up my retailing venture, I have no shortage of time and look forward to the challenge of rejuvenating the wood. The consensus is that the problem with the wood at the moment is there isn't a mix of tree ages, and there is insufficient light to support a younger generation of new trees to take the place of the oaks when they start to topple over in the next century. Without active management, they'll be replaced by whatever opportunist species can fill the gaps, most likely Sycamore. We assume much of the Ash will disappear. As my consultant said, you have to look at where the wood will be in 50 or 100 years, and try to help it reach a healthier more biodiverse sustainable species mix, equipped for all the possible climate and disease threats that might hit our woods. Having one dominant overcrowded species of the same age is not the best starting point.
So here's the plan; We'll leave all the oaks on the edges as wind shelter. We'll also leave the ones which are clearly occupied by bats, ancient (a couple up to 400 years), and best healthy specimens which will be left as standards and seed bank. A large portion of the rest will be gradually extracted for timber as carefully as possible, to get in more light. I'll try and turn the timber into some sort of finished product myself to maximise value added, using rented mobile sawmills. A character Oak framed building as a toolstore and shelter, with sweet Chestnut Shingle roofing is very much on the cards (planning apparently not an issue); my nextdoor neighbour usefully has experience of constructing them and is offering free labour for firewood. We'll restore the rides, have a couple of decent clearings, replant with a new generation of native 'Noble' Hardwoods (including Cherries, Lime, Wild service, more Oaks, Walnut & others), and as we get more light increase the density of Hazel. It'll be actively coppiced, and should have a good mix of trees, colour, insect and bird life, doormice, bats and others. I intend to switch from using fossil fuel for my pottery kiln to partly using the coppiced wood, using the on-site clay (which supported the local famous potteries for centuries), building a little kiln somewhere in the wood, and on a few weekends having 'kiln openings' where invited persons will be able to come and visit the wood, and leave with a pot or two as a souvenir. I'm also going to trade in my beloved medieval coins and antiquities, and will have an all-embracing website showing my new medieval style pots, the wood, and rare historic pieces to acquire. I reckon the three will sit well together. I should be able to split my time between tending to the wood, making pots, and visiting musuems and auctions to study and acquire knowledge and examples of cultural objects, all pulled together on one website. Its a kind of Ben Law sustainability model, but revolving round coppicing, pottery and a love of history rather than purely woodcrafts.
Should be fun.
