Dead or rotten trees.

[Mike k]

Hello,
I have some questions that may seem silly, but...i'll never know if i don't ask.
Trees that are rotten but still standing. Are they counted as part of a wood owners felling allowance?

Is it better to collect the rotten felled tree/trees then stack the reminence in a pile to one side or just crush them and leave the remains where the tree once stood?

How does rotten tree matter affect the wood foors growth ie flowers or plants?

Does anybody have a picture they could post of what a s.w.o felled timber allance per quarter looks like?

What would be the best type of natural boundary to plant around the edge of a wood to prevent trespassers?

I think thats enough questions for today, So i'd thank you for any responses that may follow.

Mike.

[Rich]

What would be the best type of natural boundary to plant around the edge of a wood to prevent trespassers?

Mike.

Hi Mike,
There's been a fair bit of discussion on this, no solution is perfect and none with out some effort or patience! Try searching dead hedges on the forum.... the quickest method, but only if you are coppicing near the boundary and have suitable materials, you'd be suprised how much it takes! If you can wait longer re plant or restore your boundary hedge

http://www.swog.org.uk/news/planting-a-new-hedge/

good natives which may deter people from crashing through are hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, but you'd need to fence until they get to disuasive size!

[Rankinswood]

You can see what FC quarterly felling allowance looks like here.

Rankinswood

[MartinD]

if memory serves, the Forestry Commission guidelines suggest that around 10% of wood by volume within the woodland should be dead wood - standing or on the ground.
so don't take it all!

this allows for insects and fungi to live within the dead wood, and for birds, such as woodpeckers, to feed from those insects.

[SimonFisher]

You can see what FC quarterly felling allowance looks like here.Rankinswood

That doesn't look right. In the first photo, lower right, (3rd Quarter 2013), those nine trees would each have to have a diameter of 345mm and be 6 metres long to get to a total of 5 cubic metres. They don't look that big to me.

[SimonFisher]

Trees that are rotten but still standing. Are they counted as part of a wood owners felling allowance?

A tree that is dangerous is exempt from requiring a felling license and therefore does not form part of the five cubic metre per calendar quarter allowance. See http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6DFKW6.

Also, a dead tree does not require a license. There's an interesting article here (http://www.avelandtrees.co.uk/index.php/2010/12/ring-barking-and-felling-licences/) about quarterly allowances, dead trees and ring barking to use up your allowance each quarter but felling them later.

Simon

[smojo]

if memory serves, the Forestry Commission guidelines suggest that around 10% of wood by volume within the woodland should be dead wood - standing or on the ground.
so don't take it all!

this allows for insects and fungi to live within the dead wood, and for birds, such as woodpeckers, to feed from those insects.

Yes I agree, it's really important for the ecology of the wood to have dead wood. Also to have a variety of deadwood like piles of brash for birds and small mammals to hide/nest in. A brash hedge on your border is a good idea if you have a lot of it after felling. Large logs on the ground for fungi and insects and leave some big ones standing.

[Mike k]

Thank you all for replying.

Its all interesting stuff.
I"d say 99% of any timber or felled trees will stay within the wood i will purchase.
Rotten trees will be cut down and placed to one side, this is where the insects and fungi can flourish.
As for felling any good trees; this timber will only be used for learning wood craft or green furnature making for personal use and a bit for fire wood.

[MartinD]

if you need to fell 'dead' trees for safety reasons, modern practice seems to be to leave a standing 'monolith' - 3 or 4 metres of the trunk standing for woodpeckers etc, and the rest of the tree on the ground. We have quite a few huge old beech monoliths in the woodland, probably around 4m tall, and as they decay, they produce a totally different habitat then the timber rotting in contact with the ground. I can spend ages watching the woodpeckers and treecreepers feeding on them. And some of the fruiting fungus is extraordinary.

[Mike k]

That sounds good knowing that a dead tree trunk can still serve a perpose.