An Idiot's guide to Ancient Woodland management

[Gary Prentice]

On 28/11/2019 at 08:04, the village idiot said:

Here you go Gary.

 

The report was written in 2013 as I was just getting started in the Woods.

 

It's actually 25 pages rather than 15. Pondy stuff starts on page 5.

 

Hopefully the link works.

 

juliet pond report 2013.pdf 3.04 MB · 26 downloads

It works  thank you.

 

The anorak in me enjoys stuff like this, appreciating the bigger picture - not just the trees.

[the village idiot]

35 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

It works  thank you.

 

The anorak in me enjoys stuff like this, appreciating the bigger picture - not just the trees.

Hi Gary, it's cool that you enjoy the detail on this kind of stuff.

 

Once you've digested that 'requirements' document you can have a read of the update report where Juliet has revisited some of the rejuvenated ponds and dipped her net. I trust you have all brushed up on your latin!

 

Pond restoration Raydon update 2018.pdf

[Newbie Forester]

Great stuff, interested visitors are always welcome, especially those bearing goodies! (chocolate hobnobs gain you free entry).
 
I do have an Exeter retort. I'll try and bring the charcoal section of the thread forward a bit so I can give you my thoughts.
 
You can also have a good look at it when you visit.
 
Where are you based?

Excellent - hobnobs are everyone's friend!
I'm in east Staffordshire so would be a couple.of hours but well worth it I think.

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, Newbie Forester said:

Excellent - hobnobs are everyone's friend!
I'm in east Staffordshire so would be a couple.of hours but well worth it I think.

Perfect!

 

I'll ping you a personal message tomorrow with some details.

[Mullany]

Just caught up with the thread again. Its great thanks for putting it up.

Id almost give up climbing to do this kind of work.

Makes me want to get some woodland.

Your writing is very succinct and accessible, have you thought of condensing this into an article or series of articles for a magazine or paper? You may even get paid!

Cheers

Paul

[eggsarascal]

4 hours ago, Newbie Forester said:

Excellent - hobnobs are everyone's friend!
I'm in east Staffordshire so would be a couple.of hours but well worth it I think.

What you thinking of traveling in, a jet plane?

 

Sorry TVI, no more derailing.

[the village idiot]

16 hours ago, Mullany said:

Just caught up with the thread again. Its great thanks for putting it up.

Id almost give up climbing to do this kind of work.

Makes me want to get some woodland.

Your writing is very succinct and accessible, have you thought of condensing this into an article or series of articles for a magazine or paper? You may even get paid!

Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul, I'm glad you are enjoying the thread.

 

Is there a market in small plots of Woodland in Sweden or are they all hoovered up by big forestry companies?

 

Thanks for the kind words. I hadn't really considered writing anything for any sort of publication. I have to fight a very strong urge to descend into silliness whenever I write something. It's a tendency that probably wouldn't translate too well in a more 'mainstream' arena.

 

It's much more fun chatting with you guys as there's a lot more freedom to be daft.?

[the village idiot]

17 hours ago, eggsarascal said:

Sorry TVI, no more derailing.

Damn you Eggs. You've just short circuited my BS detector.

Edited November 30, 2019 by the village idiot

[the village idiot]

WIDE RIDENING II.

 

Hopefully you remember from the last proper posts I was talking about the decision to take the ride edges back, up to 15mtrs each side, with a view to then encouraging the regeneration of a three zone system with a succession of increasingly mature growth regions across it's widths.

 

Before I started the 'opening up' process pretty much all of the concrete rides looked similar to this:

 

 

The non concrete grass rides were even more overgrown, with some having disappeared entirely.

 

As with a coppice compartment, the first stage was to take out all the small shrubby growth, put aside any usable product, and stack the brash in a long line at the back.  

 

 

I then went back along and felled the larger trees. This resulted in significant quantities of firewood material.

 

Once all the trees (barring a few nice feature specimens) were removed from the 30mtr width the once dark and narrow tracks were transformed into vast open corridors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see from the photo directly above that the thatched hut hasn't fared particularly well over the past few years.

 

One important consideration when opening up the rides was crossing points for Dormice. Every 100 yards or so a strip of trees was left in situ, providing an aerial walkway for our canopy loving little ginger friends.

 

 

Once the rides had been opened up we were still left with a rather major issue which was going to make the subsequent ride edge mowing operations rather difficult.  Stumps!

 

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Bold move.