An Idiot's guide to Ancient Woodland management

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, Mullany said:

Interesting stuff.

What cool project to be involved in.

Paul

Thanks Paul,

 

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have landed in the position I have.

 

Once I get through the history of the Wood I'll get into how I came to be involved in the Wood and my exploits as I blunder my way through it's next phases.

[Mick Dempsey]

I was only thinking of finding an old copy of Levkas Man by Hammond Innes the other day! Read it twice as a younger man, good book.

 

Enjoying the blog VI.

[the village idiot]

In recent decades it became increasingly apparent that whilst there is a constant need to plant swathes of conifer trees in the UK, ancient woodland sites are not the place to do it.

 

Ancient woodland soils have built up over millennia, and provide a unique and irreplaceable habitat for a very diverse range of flora and fauna. These soils and there associated biology can only persist for so long under the dense and acidifying cover of closely planted conifers.

 

Many of you have undoubtedly noticed the very different experience of walking through a tightly packed conifer plantation as opposed to a bright, airy mixed broadleaf woodland. Conifer plantations are cold, dark and relatively silent. Well managed broadleaf woodlands or conifer woodlands under Continuous Cover Forestry (more on that later) are vibrant, colourful and literally buzzing with life, whilst still providing an income for the people who work in them.

 

Below is a picture taken in 2000 within the Wood which shows the edge of an area of conifer plantation. You can probably imagine that there's not much life thriving under that canopy.

 

 

Round about the year 2000 the present owner decided that the vast majority of conifers needed to come out.

 

There was a bit of a battle with the Forestry Commission who wanted to remove the conifers in each block gradually. I have some sympathy for this approach, but the Owner wanted them out ASAP and he won through in the end. 

 

Later in the thread I'll show you very good evidence that in this particular case the owner's tactics have been well and truly vindicated.

 

The photo below shows a similar block of woodland as above days after the conifers came out. You can also see the little thatched hut I mentioned earlier.

 

 

The next photo shows part of the extent of the de-coniferisation. We are talking large areas here with no plan to replant afterwards. The owner wanted natural regeneration. A bold move!

 

 

This photo was taken in 2003. By 2013 all but two of the conifer/poplar blocks had been removed, and it's at this point that a local idiot with no forestry experience appears on the scene and blags himself the job of Woodland Manager.

 

 

 

[petercb]

Very interesting and sounds so similar to our woodland (PAWS) with Americans donating huge amounts of concrete (Nearly 5 miles of the stuff) which as you say makes it great for getting around all year, was used for bomb storage and ammunition loading in Nissen type huts. Was originally oak predominately then clear felled after war replanted with Norway Spruce and Corsican Pine as nurse crop for Oak by FC. They then decided to spray off the oak as 'uneconomic', they have the grace to look embarrassed about it now. Wood passed through a couple of previous owners with some thinning being carried out but they took a lot of the 'king' trees out and we had some windblow in compartments as a result. We've owned it for the last 20 years and mainly light thinning with a mix of regen and hardwood planting. Little sign of Ash dieback yet.

Dogs Mercury is prevalent and primroses and bluebells are prolific in the southern end of the wood. Have some big elm sadly suffering from DED but still lots left. Few patches of hazel and about 5 spindles which are just flowering.

Will post some more when time permits and will follow the thread with interest.

 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

9 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

We are talking large areas here with no plan to replant afterwards. The owner wanted natural regeneration. A bold move!

I bet that was an epic battle against the mediocrity of bureaucracy!  

 

Great thread VI ? 

[the village idiot]

2 minutes ago, petercb said:

Very interesting and sounds so similar to our woodland (PAWS) with Americans donating huge amounts of concrete (Nearly 5 miles of the stuff) which as you say makes it great for getting around all year, was used for bomb storage and ammunition loading in Nissen type huts. Was originally oak predominately then clear felled after war replanted with Norway Spruce and Corsican Pine as nurse crop for Oak by FC. They then decided to spray off the oak as 'uneconomic', they have the grace to look embarrassed about it now. Wood passed through a couple of previous owners with some thinning being carried out but they took a lot of the 'king' trees out and we had some windblow in compartments as a result. We've owned it for the last 20 years and mainly light thinning with a mix of regen and hardwood planting. Little sign of Ash dieback yet.

Dogs Mercury is prevalent and primroses and bluebells are prolific in the southern end of the wood. Have some big elm sadly suffering from DED but still lots left. Few patches of hazel and about 5 spindles which are just flowering.

Will post some more when time permits and will follow the thread with interest.

 

That would be great!

 

Sounds like you a have a very similar situation to me.

 

How big is the Wood? Do you manage it yourself?

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

I bet that was an epic battle against the mediocrity of bureaucracy!  

 

Great thread VI ? 

Thanks Kev.

 

Yes, it was before my time but apparently it was open warfare.

 

Nuclear Armageddon was only averted as the FC pushed the wrong button and granted a felling licence to an elderly farmer in Pately Bridge by mistake. 

[the village idiot]

30 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

The next photo shows part of the extent of the de-coniferisation. We are talking large areas here with no plan to replant afterwards. The owner wanted natural regeneration. A bold move!

 

I'll take some pictures on the ground of the regeneration of these areas, but for now you can get some idea of the power of natural regeneration in Woodland by comparing the photo above showing a massive conifer clearfell area, with the map below.

 

The area under the 'number 1' tag is the same clearfell area 15 years on. You can hopefully see if you zoom in that it is now thickly wooded (Oak, Birch, Hazel, Willow, Hawthorne) and not a single tree planted.

 

 

 

[the village idiot]

So, in 2012 I was perfectly happily working on Mrs Idiot's parents' fruit farm in Suffolk. I started as a farm worker and then switched to making ice cream when my partner finished her studies in London and came back to run the fruit ice cream side of the business.

 

Shameless plug!

 

 

It was whilst working on the farm that I got my chainsaw tickets to help with hedgerows etc. I started to do a bit of non-cutting voluntary work in the woodlands owned by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and got to know the Woodland Warden Pete Fordham MBE.

 

In a funny twist of fate, since his retirement Pete has now become my volunteer! He just can't stay out of the trees.

 

 

Suffolk Wildlife Trust tribute to Pete Fordham | East Anglian Coppice Network

EASTANGLIANCOPPICENETWORK.WORDPRESS.COM

---

A fabulous article in Suffolk Wildlife Trust Magazine on our very own Pete Fordham. Some good coppicing background...

 

It was whilst on a walk through Bradfield Woods (one of Pete's) that I had a bit of a moment. Could I find a way to spend all my time in wonderful places like this?

 

I spent the next six months or so trespassing at every opportunity. If I passed a Woodland on my travels I would go and have a sneaky rummage to see if there was anyone working them. If not, and this was almost always the case, I would ask around to find the owner and write them a letter to see if they wanted them managed.

 

The standard answer was a resounding No! Totally understandable as I had no forestry experience, and precious little woodland experience of any kind.

 

My luck changed when I sent an email to what I thought was the owner of a little Wood in Mid Suffolk. He replied straight away saying that he no longer owned the Wood but did own another in South Suffolk and would love to get some trustworthy management going in there. He suggested I go and have a look to see what I thought.

 

I was going to that area with the ice cream van a few days later, so decided I would go and have a look then. I had up till this point been looking at small farm woodlands (10-20 acres), so when I took to Google maps and 200 acres of forest loomed into view I had to go and have a swift drink.

 

After I had a quick reappraisal of my possible future I went to have a look at the Wood. As I entered from the South I was pretty sure that this wasn't the place for me. It was shortly after a conifer extraction and the place looked like a war zone. I didn't have the first clue how to tackle a place like that.

 

I continued looking though as this was the first positive lead I'd had. After a while I crossed a small bridge over an old railway line and entered a setting I felt much more comfortable in. Neglected coppice. This was the bread and butter of my volunteer work with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and I began to think that this could work.

When a badger trotted out of nowhere and confidently bustled it's way almost over my feet I knew I had found my natural environment.

[petercb]

1 hour ago, the village idiot said:

That would be great!

 

Sounds like you a have a very similar situation to me.

 

How big is the Wood? Do you manage it yourself?

Wood is 128 acres in old money. Its in North Bedfordshire, actually two woods but joined together.

Yes we do manage it ourselves though others may disagree! Like you came to woodland mgt later in life.

Just seen your comment ref Badger - similar experience with two youngsters on a beautiful summer evening weeks after buying the wood.