Pollards, the forgotten art-discussion

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

My point exactly

 

well isnt it important to be able to distinguish when and why those that do fail fail?

 

or shall we just fell them as a precaution

[Lee Winger]

well isnt it important to be able to distinguish when and why those that do fail fail?

 

or shall we just fell them as a precaution

 

Up to the owner imo, just as long as they are aware of course

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

there are so many other issues being brought in.

 

merripilus deserves a thread of its own and has very little to do with pollards, which is why in my deffence I never replied to it, i dont want to waste time on a subject that is huge in its own right, is that fair?

[Lee Winger]

I like the way they placed so much value on a tree years ago, fodder, tools, fuel, shelter..

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I guess i should also say that I think some trees make poor pollards, chestnut (hippocastinum) for example. but give me a wood of beech, oak and ash, with hazel, birch alder sambucus, yew etc oh yeah I will create a pollard wood alright.

 

if I won the lottery i would buy chesham bois and re create burnham, they would lynch me now, but 100 years on they wood change their minds again!

 

How cool a job wood that be? re create Burnham beeches from a stand of perfect aged beech wood, just ripe they are!

 

i reckon upto 50% loss at worst, 30% at least what fails will add to habitat and all the waste chipped to the soil, few log stacks, re erected dead, hundreds of bat boxes owl boxes 100 years and bingo! beetle bat and owl heaven!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I like the way they placed so much value on a tree years ago, fodder, tools, fuel, shelter..

 

yes they did, trees were a huge part of the comunity, the chilterns apparently is covered in beech because it was a well known town for spindles, so i am told, there was a broom factory there within recent history too.

 

we lost a lot to plastic in my view, concrete plastic, are they better?

 

i bet a member of the public could name most of the trees a hundred years ago, o.k maybe 150!

[skyhuck]

Cheers for your answer!!!!

 

Interesting stuff, I'm off to take the kids to the pic's, back in a bit

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

but back to my main point.

 

The ancient forester knew more of his art than we give him credit for, and I am certain his powers of observation were so tuned he had a natural gift, this was their lives, everyday was spent working the woods. I make a point of getting out to wild woods as often as possible to jsu mentaly log fungi and tree interactions. i know more from this than ANY book can teach me, would anyone say different?

 

so isnt it arrogant to asume that the foresters of old did not ALSO have such insights and complex understanding. O.K niether him nor me coukd put it into words and satisfy the scientific community and write a fantastic article for the forestry journal, BUT

 

put the old forester/me in an ancient wood, and the science grad, give us both a chainsaw and see how many trees each of us pollard succsefully!

 

and which one can describe the form it will become the progression of the decays, what species will change it what ways. the forest is a heaving moving living breathing organism in its own right all through all, science cannot and will never replace "the art of the pollard"

[Mick Stockbridge]

I like the way they placed so much value on a tree years ago, fodder, tools, fuel, shelter..

 

What's changed, most of us on here still do.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I know loads of beeches that have been standing for years with merripilus its not news to me, the trouble with us humans we always need to find explanation to things always analyzing, sometimes we should just accept, well that's my opinion

 

Ancient man was far better at accepting............

 

Beautifully put....

 

sweet dude, my point, a lost instinct a feel for nature, the hardwired ability to live well and thrive and allow nature to thrive along side us at the same time. an Art a gift

 

the lost art.... almost!