An Idiot's guide to Ancient Woodland management

[The avantgardener]

12 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Wow!

 

We do produce a limited amount of birch bundles for horse jumps already, but yes, it could become a more integral product for us in time.

 

A huge area must have been cut to produce that load. They pack down to nothing when you bundle them up.

The guy near me who does this as his main income has sites all over the country, from Kent to Lockerbie. He cuts the Birch down initially and markets the wood in exchange for three coppice rotation harvests when the regrowth is as thick as your thumb. 
It’s a lot easier to harvest using a clearing saw if it is all the same age rather than picking your way through Different size groupings.

Edited December 31, 2019 by The avantgardener

[Mick Dempsey]

It was taught to us as hairy or white at Merrist wood.

 

You'll have to alter your storage solutions as a winter in the rain cut and stacked it’ll turn to mush.

 

I also have advice on teaching your granny to suck eggs (not that one!) if needed.

Edited December 31, 2019 by Mick Dempsey

[the village idiot]

2 minutes ago, The avantgardener said:

The guy near me who does this as his main income has sites all over the country, from Kent to Lockerbie. He cuts the Birch down initially and markets the wood in exchange for three coppice rotation harvests when the regrowth is as thick as your thumb. 

Presumably he has customers all over the country too? Birch bundles are costly to transport.

 

I wonder how much total area of birch coppice he needs to earn enough for a living?

[the village idiot]

3 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

It was taught to us as hairy or white at Merrist wood.

 

You'll have to alter your storage solutions as a winter in the rain cut and stacked it’ll turn to mush.

 

I also have advice on teaching you granny to suck eggs (not that one!) if needed.

There are plans afoot for a very big barn. Updates on this as negotiations progress.

[The avantgardener]

2 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Presumably he has customers all over the country too? Birch bundles are costly to transport.

 

I wonder how much total area of birch coppice he needs to earn enough for a living?

He has been doing it for many years so does more rotation harvesting than coppicing now, he still needs to do some more sites each year though. He is a main supplier for The Jockey Club so his customers are Nationwide like the tracks.

[The avantgardener]

I will ask him for an estimate of the kind of area he has on the go at any one time the next time I see him, I reckon it will be ridiculous.

[the village idiot]

WHO WOULD LIVE IN A HOUSE LIKE THIS?

 

We found a rather curious hole in a ditch bank yesterday. Something has tunnelled in and excavated some surprisingly sandy soil.

 

Our conservation guru Juliet wondered if it may have been a water vole that has been flooded out of it's regular home and taken advantage of a temporarily wet ditch as a new home from home.

 

Anybody got any ideas?

 

 

 

[Paul in the woods]

18 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Anybody got any ideas?

I would guess at the ubiquitous bank vole? There's quite a few similar holes about our slopey woodland, more so than I've noticed in the past. I wonder if they've been forced to dig fresh tunnels due to the recent wet weather?

[the village idiot]

12 minutes ago, Paul in the woods said:

I would guess at the ubiquitous bank vole? There's quite a few similar holes about our slopey woodland, more so than I've noticed in the past. I wonder if they've been forced to dig fresh tunnels due to the recent wet weather?

It's a good shout.

 

They're cute little creatures who apparently love chowing down on blackberries.

 

 

Superb Owl fodder too by all accounts.

[Paul in the woods]

6 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Superb Owl fodder too by all accounts.

Yes, I read the Wildlife Trust comment "It is ideal prey for owls, weasels and kestrels." We have owls about every night here, a kestrel most days and frequent stoats and weasels so the poor voles get kept in check.