Working neglected woodland

[sandspider]

[Two Acres]

Are you going to change your name now?

 

It looks like I'm going to have to doesn't it

[Sussex Groundie]

Another day at the coal face, first 3 pics are work in progress today.

The pictures of the logs is how it will look "after". Loads of branches dropped all round the wood thanks to the new year storms as well. A Groundie's job is never done.

[bikewoo]

The last 3 pics look like a log fairy's paradise.

[Two Acres]

Another day at the coal face, first 3 pics are work in progress today.

The pictures of the logs is how it will look "after". Loads of branches dropped all round the wood thanks to the new year storms as well. A Groundie's job is never done.

 

Looks great Sussex Groundie!

 

Are you going to season your logs stacked like that in the wood?

[Bombus]

Awesome thread/wood!

 

Couple of quick points after reading through. I'm no expert, but have read that bird boxes aren't always a good idea in woodland, as they can encourage the more common birds like blue and great tits at the expense of rarer/more specialist birds.

 

And you have to be careful with Glusophate. it's very toxic to aquatic live, so be careful around water courses and ditches.

[Two Acres]

Awesome thread/wood!

 

Couple of quick points after reading through. I'm no expert, but have read that bird boxes aren't always a good idea in woodland, as they can encourage the more common birds like blue and great tits at the expense of rarer/more specialist birds.

 

And you have to be careful with Glusophate. it's very toxic to aquatic live, so be careful around water courses and ditches.

 

Thanks for that Bombus,

 

Do you have a source for the bird box info? Thats interesting.

 

I'm not going to use the Glusophate at the moment - opinions on nettles seem to be divided so leave well alone at the moment is the plan.

[Bombus]

Thanks for that Bombus,

 

Do you have a source for the bird box info? Thats interesting.

 

I'm not going to use the Glusophate at the moment - opinions on nettles seem to be divided so leave well alone at the moment is the plan.

 

 

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/owning-a-wood/managing-your-woodland-for-wildlife/07-chapter-5---creating-new-opportunities-for-wildlife.pdf

 

5.2 Bird nestboxes

Bird nestboxes can make an enormous difference to the populations of some species, but in many woods they are simply not necessary. First of all you need to assess the availability of natural nest holes in your wood. Mature woodland which has good structural diversity and trees of a wide age range, including older trees with holes and cavities and similar nest sites, is unlikely to benefit from nestboxes. This conclusion may be confirmed if you find evidence of the presence of good populations of a range of hole-nesting birds: consider carrying out a woodland bird survey in spring (see Section 2.3).

 

If there are already enough nesting places, boxes can actually upset the balance of species if they encourage the populations of commoner birds such as blue tit, which can compete aggressively with much rarer species such as marsh tit for nest sites and food (Symes and Currie, 2005).

 

Nestboxes might be considered if a particular species such as pied flycatcher or willow tit is declining or absent, in which case boxes could be put up specifically for the target species, especially if suitable nest holes are in limited supply.

 

Similar issues arise if you have a new woodland at the stage of canopy closure. Here there will be few if any natural hole-nesting opportunities, but putting up nestboxes will attract relatively common species such as blue tit and great tit. These birds normally feed in the higher canopy, but in young woodland, they might compete for food with declining understorey specialists such as nightingale, garden warbler and willow warbler.

 

In contrast, nestboxes may be much more successful in secondary lowland woodland with poor structural diversity, lacking in older trees, and hence with few opportunities for holenesting birds. Mature woods which have been heavily managed, with few old trees remaining, also lack natural tree holes; examples include lowland mixed deciduous woodland converted to conifer plantations or chestnut coppice with few oak standards remaining; and many of the heavily managed upland oak woods in western Britain. Pied flycatcher and common redstart in particular, which have declined in western oak woods, have benefitted enormously from major nestbox schemes, providing the woodland has sufficient food resources available.

 

Nestboxes can also be successfully employed for owls in young woodland, or larger open areas associated with mature woodland or plantations. Barn owl boxes erected 3–5 m above the ground on a solitary mature tree or pole may also attract other species such as kestrel and stock dove.

[Two Acres]

Thanks Bombus,

 

Useful stuff

[woodyguy]

The problem with articles like that is that they're not read by the birds involved. I put up over 30 nest boxes last year. many different size boxes and holes including woodpecker boxes. Yes I've got a lot of blue and great tits nesting. But many of the holes sized for blue tits have been adapted. One has even been plastered over with mud by house martins who nest there. So if you don't have an ancient wood with veteran trees rich with rotting wood and holes then I'd make some nest boxes. The variety of bird attracted is well worth it.