small woodland management

[jonnyashworth]

Hi all. I am totally new to this so please be gentle. Forgiveme if I have posted in the wrong place or am covering a thread that has been covered before.

 

My wife and I have just moved into a new house that is aone sixth owner of a very small patch of woodland. No one has bothered with the woods for years now, It is totally covered in brambles and has mainly been used by the local residents for an easy place to dump the leaves they collect up in their gardens and the occational fridge etc.

 

We would really like to clear the woodland a bit to make it a nice place to walk the dog and for kids to play.

 

It is protected by an area order so any trees over 25 years old are protected and we aremeeting with the local tree officer today to mark the older trees. It is mainly oak and silver birch in the wood.

 

What I am after is basic advice as I am totallk new to all this... How best to clearthe brambles?? how much to clear?? density of trees?? logging advice?? is it okay to spread leaves collected in the garden on the floor of the wood?? litterally anything at all will be a help. Also any suitable websites to have a look at that might help us.

 

Many thanks.

[hedgesparrow]

Interesting question. The birch and oak means that it was probably clear felled some years back and has self-regenerated ie nothing planted. Because it is an isolated fragment it will be very slow for extra species to establish. If your kids wish to play in it then brambles are a good thing to get rid of. At this time of year, get a bill hook, a thick pair of gardening gloves and remove them. If you pull on them, the roots are fairly lose at this time, and you can cut through them with a bill hook. The new shoots are a pretty pink and you will remove the whole plants. Yes don't remove them all, but most for the kids to play. Get an old bill hook off ebay not the modern rubbish that don't hold their edge.

 

You can also use this to cut back the few that get away or you leave. As to new species, you will need to plan what you wish to plant. Buy a few Tubex tree guards, 75cm long with stake off ebay. Go to cheviot trees for small quantities of alder, field maple, hornbeam, hazle, wild cherry, sweet chestnut, beech and small leaved lime. All of these will establish if you thin the birch a little.

 

Look at the oaks and remove those that are crowded or crossed or deformed. You are aiming to produce trees that will be good to live with for the next 50 years+. So decide your management plan, but it may well include increasing the range of species, making it more fun for the kids and planting a succession for when the birches will all die from old age.

Have fun and feed back.

Please feel free to ignore any of this, but I've got the same challenge for a 7 acre wood of birch and oak so I have given this some thought and even a little experience.

 

+1 billhook or a slasher long handle bill hook. as for trees two places do very good native trees first choice Murrey Mc clean abingdon does very good native species and has some failrly tall or mill farm trees nr winchester does very good plants. as for felling need someone to survey the wood for you and earmark those which need felling. need to let light into the wood this will allow the native flowers blue,white bells. primrose. to flourish. see if you can find a charcoal burner if you do not need the wood good luck and welcome to this site show us your photo,s as you progress with the work.

[fagus]

I reckon the TPO is in place until it is revoked. However a management plan shows commitment to looking after the area. Contact as well your local Forestry Commission Office and seek advice. Best to manage it to get the maximum wildlife value.

[Ty Unnos]

Where abouts are you based?

 

My advice is don't rush to do lots of felling. You should observe for at least 12 months so you can see the different seasons and then decide what work needs doing. Use the time to clear the rubbish and open up any paths or access you will need. Also if you are going to use a chainsaw get yourself on a course and buy some PPE. Contact local forestry commission officer and wildlife trust. Both should be happy to offer advice.

[daltontrees]

Nothing to add except as you will have gathered there are competing opinions on teh benefits and drawbacks of various species including brambles and (since you are co-owners) I would strolngly recommend that you draft a management plan setting out objectives (say wildness and nature vs access and play, trees vs wood production etc.) and circulate it to co-proprietors for comments, working towards a consensus or majority that everyone can sign up to. There is plenty of advice on the web about simple woodland management plans.

If you can get sign-off on a managemnet plan then you can produce a simple initial and then annual plan of action. Who knows, you may get co-proprietors to agree to an annual action day when you all get stuck in and do the bulk of clearance with many hands.

Finally, if you can get yourselves set up as a constituted body in a simple form, you may well be eligible for one or more of the small woodland estabilshment/management grants. Buy-in (not with money, just in spirit) from the Planning Authority may help too, remember TPOs don't mean no tree work they just mean the amenity should be preserved (or enhanced) by what is proposed and the Planning Authority would surely be willing to endorse selective removals, thinning etc. in teh context of a long term plan and appropriate planting complementary to encouragement of habitat and biodiversity.

You are perhaps in an enviable position, I think most people on this forum would love to have a small woodland to shape and manage.

[agg221]

What do the other owners think?

 

If they've been using it as a dumping ground, have the people who did that now gone, or is that still the prevailing attitude? If it is, I would be inclined to take a calculated approach to bramble clearance - for example if the woodland backs onto your gardens, I would leave brambles alone in a wide belt backing onto the other gardens so as not to make access for dumping easier (they're perfectly at liberty to clear it themselves!)

 

Children in my experience love mazes and secret tracks, so rather than wide open clearance, plenty of crossing paths would meet this need better, with the odd small clearing to build dens/camps in.

 

Are there access points that adjoin public land/roads? If so, these are also obvious places to make sure bramble cover remains thick, and tree planting distance is closer. This is less about trying to stop people, more about avoiding scrambling bikes and burnt out abandoned cars.

 

Sounds like a really nice place to have access to though.