Deer versus Chestnut

[jeremyH]

I have just come across this thread. Having talked to some senior folks here on west coast of Scotland the idea of mini-pollarding or copparding is not new, especially where roe deer are a continual problem and one cannot fence for lots of different reasons. I tried this first three years ago having had deer troubles and with careful monitoring have found an optimum grazing height. Having surveyed the ancient coppice wood for a year there seemed to be good evidence of copparding. I po-poed it at first but it seems to work! I will have to wait and see how long the roads are after the cycle but the hazel seems to be pretty happy. It is very slow growing here so we wait to see how long the cycles will have to be. I came across this recently

 

Coppice - Mini Pollard

 

So I am still waiting to sing out too loud just yet!

[coppiceer]

I have just come across this thread. Having talked to some senior folks here on west coast of Scotland the idea of mini-pollarding or copparding is not new, especially where roe deer are a continual problem and one cannot fence for lots of different reasons. I tried this first three years ago having had deer troubles and with careful monitoring have found an optimum grazing height. Having surveyed the ancient coppice wood for a year there seemed to be good evidence of copparding. I po-poed it at first but it seems to work! I will have to wait and see how long the roads are after the cycle but the hazel seems to be pretty happy. It is very slow growing here so we wait to see how long the cycles will have to be. I came across this recently

 

Coppice - Mini Pollard

 

So I am still waiting to sing out too loud just yet!

 

Ironically I started to use this technique after reading an article in "British Wildlife" about experiments in coppicing hazel in Scotland. I use it to obtain straight hazel stakes from bushes on the edges of my coppice sections. Often the outer stems grow at 45-degree angle bfore straightening towards the light; I find that cutting the stem at the bend causes new straight stems to be produced at the cuts. A bonus of this technique is that it seems to produce more shoots than coppicig at the base; a drawback is that the shoots do not grow as long as those from the base and, consequently, are only useful for stakes, walking sticks, etc.

 

Swepstone Coppice

Edited February 21, 2011 by coppiceer

[keith@honda]

hi depends where you are there are always people willing to control deer,deer and rabbits get used to everything else ,let them meet mr sako and mr winchester

[woodcock]

heras fence panels work very effectively. ok slightly more expensive at the outset, 14-17 pound per panel - 3m wide 2 m height but after two years they can be easily relocated and used again and again. a great form of protection for coppice systems.

[john k]

I noticed a coupe near me last week that was surrounded by Heras. It's certainly not pretty, but seems to work well.

[Chris Gagen]

have just read through this thread again and found that there was no mention of electric fencing, is this telling...?

 

i've done a price up on enough materials to go around 4 acres (allowing for extra). seemingly good quality stuff including leisure battery comes out at £596.52 + VAT, seems pretty good to me, what's the catch??

[Paul Smith]

have just read through this thread again and found that there was no mention of electric fencing, is this telling...?

 

i've done a price up on enough materials to go around 4 acres (allowing for extra). seemingly good quality stuff including leisure battery comes out at £596.52 + VAT, seems pretty good to me, what's the catch??

 

I had to shoot a good Fallow buck that was caught in electric fencing, it had been there some time and was severely stressed, electric was still on!

 

The RSPB put it around a load of

nesting Curlew.

[Sam Thompson]

I had to shoot a good Fallow buck that was caught in electric fencing, it had been there some time and was severely stressed, electric was still on!

 

Done that with a roe buck. Not nice.

 

 

Fences are only part of true management

[Daniël Bos]

have just read through this thread again and found that there was no mention of electric fencing, is this telling...?

 

i've done a price up on enough materials to go around 4 acres (allowing for extra). seemingly good quality stuff including leisure battery comes out at £596.52 + VAT, seems pretty good to me, what's the catch??

 

 

The catch is the high maintenance. If it does not contain a severely oversized solar panel to make sure the batt is always full, the system loses the power to kill vegetation that leaches it's power very quickly. It is when the power is low -but not off- when animals get caught in the fence, as they can "feel" the fence without touching it as long as it gives good wallop.

 

It means you'll have to change/charge the battery every week at least, wich means you'll need two batteries, easy acces, weekly hassle etc.

If it does have a large solar panel, you have a very very nickable set-up out in the woods.

 

To ensure the good working of the fence you'd have to check it twice a week at least really.

 

The other reason they get caught is because most deer are very flighty, and do not reason an awfull lot when spooked, so will try and jump through the fence because it "feels" unpleasant, but does not look substantial. iow they'd really prefer not to, but will try and get through when threatened.

 

 

I like electric fencing, I'm just about to put up an electric wire over stockwire rather than using barbed, but this is in my home-field. Electric fencing is good and can be a cheap and easy solution, just not in a stand-alone, low-input system in my opinion.

 

 

p.s. The "package deals" you'll find on ebay are utter shite, low/no quality components etc.

[Chris Gagen]

i was planning on a dose of glyphosate around the base of the fence every so often, so i expect to be able to keep the vegetation in check. access is no problem and the site is less than half a mile from home with no public access.

 

thanks for the heads up on ebay packages, i didn't even think to look there! the info and prices i got from a proprietary electric fencing company, all looks pretty good from here.

 

i figure i'm only going to need the protection for say the first 3 years after cutting, after which i can dismantle the fence and store it away for use again at the next time of coppicing. just seems like a far better long term investment then splashing out on permanent deer fencing which would be looking the worse for wear come the next rotation...