coppiceer

Vety interesting programme about cuckoos on Radio 4: BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Nick Davies

This might be helpful: formative pruning guide by the National Forest Co. http://www.nationalforest.org/document/information/pruning_guide.pdf

Interesting; I like the thought of doubles.

Thanks.

Also, would you set the trap at once or how long would you leave it before setting? Thanks again.

I am based in Leicestershire, selling stakes and binders. I have noticed that, this year, none of my customers have been hedgelayers. They have all been individuals, landowners or wildlife groups that are laying hedges themselves and not employing a hedgelayer. Is this widespread or just happening around me?

Thanks, I'll give that a try as well.

Oh dear; now I wish that I had posted this question on Arbtalk before I spent £93 on a Kania trap. I must say, I'm not at all impressed with the Kania trap. I find it impossible to strap to a tree, so I have strapped a post to the tree and the trap to the post. Paul: thanks for the info about the Fineren trap. I shall definitely get one of those. "My" squirrels have been raiding the bird feeders for months now and I have finally decided to do something about them.

Has anyone had any success with a Kania trap. When I leave mine unset but baited the food is always eaten, but as soon as I set the trap the squirrels leave it alone.

Does anyone know where I could hire a towable, petrol log-splitter in Leicestershire?

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't complaining about the Forestry Commission, just describing the situation. Once they had realised that I wasn't public enemy number one, they were genuinely interested and helpful. The health and profitability of my wood is what matters.

I heard my first on the 9th of April. Heard him again for 2 or 3 days, since then nothing. I suppose that he's waiting for the females to arrive. Chris the cuckoo (of Springwatch fame) arrived in Suffolk on the 28th of April. There is a very interesting piece on cuckoos by Nick Davies in this weeks "Start the Week" program on Radio 4: BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Vikram Seth

I received a visit/raid from the Forestry Commission last week. They happened to be passing and took exception to my coppicing operations that were visible from the main road. They came in and accused me of illegal felling as there was no current felling license for my site. I protested that I was coppicing Hazel and Ash and that I was within the allowed exemptions. They relented somewhat at this point and after a look around decided that I although wasn't felling illegally at the moment, I should have obtained a felling license for a block of Ash that I had felled 3 years ago to start a coppice cycle. It seems that what I look upon as the initial cut in a coppice cycle for Ash, the FC regard as felling for timber. It seems that I have not been bureaucratic enough and must fill in some forms..Therefore I need to err on the safe side from now on and get a license for the future. Anyway, after the shaky start they were being exceedingly friendly and helpful when they suggested that a check for Ash Dieback disease (ADB) might be useful. Unfortunately it appears highly likely that I do have ADB on the site; although I have to wait for 10 days for the test results to be sure. Looking at the samples I would not have recognised the lesions from the examples on the FC website; so it was lucky in the end that they decided to visit me. Because I have been coppicing, my wood has an open, airy structure that could well inhibit the Chalara fungus that causes the disease: Chalara prefers damp airless conditions. I have had quite a few problems trying to coppice Ash that I am not entirely dismayed at the prospect of having to fell them and start again. I am already thinking of what to plant in their place and they aren't even dead yet.

I have had a lot of problems coppicing Ash after leaving them for 8 years. There is abundant regrowth but the new shoots then "flop" over in the wind and grow into all sorts of fantastically distorted shapes. I have had to cut away the worst of the stems after 2 years growth leaving only the bset to grow on. Some of the stems are nice and straight but most take a lot of extra effort to cut up for logs. The above problems occurred whether I cut the trees as low as possible or if I cut at higher levels. All regrowth occurs from around 4"-6" of the base of the trees. Leaving a level top on stumps caused frequent stump mortality; finishing off the stump with sloping sides prevented this pronlem. The way to avoid these problems is to cut the sapling at about 4" when planting. I have tried this with self-sets and transplants and it works.

How big is your site? I planted at 1-metre spacing within each row, with a 2 metre inter-row gap every third row for maintenance access. The hazel gets pretty dense at these spacings but you are going to clear cut so that isn't a problem. If my Ash die I will simply replant with hazel and coppice them on a 10-year cycle instead. Don't plant too far apart or your stems will be crooked and so harder to process.

Hazel and Ash. Hazel on a 5-year cycle provides medium sticks and kindling; Ash on a 10-year cycle provides decent sized logs which can easily be processed with a home chainsaw and splitter.

Hello Bombus, I see that you are in Northants. I have 10 acres under coppice in Leicestershire. Let me know if you would like to have a chat and a look around.

Thankyou.

Hello crafters, I have had an enquiry for some pieces of unseasoned Ash 300 mm x 75 mm. Any thoughts on what the price should be? Thanks.

We have a swashbuckling addition to our menagerie, in the shape of a hedgehog; who. owing to the delicacy of his table manners, we have called "Noisey". Noisey started appearing in our polytunnel about a month ago and has been devouring cat biscuits ever since. The biscuits are in the polytunnel because that's where one of our cats has taken up residence. She is an old, semi-feral, reclusive sort of feline who doesn't like being in the house. Like all cats, she likes to be fed certain foods at particular times and Noisey has taken a fancy to her cat biscuits. Initially we were worried at seeing a hedgehog out in the daylight, but we have weighed it (750 gms of mostly cat biscuits) and it seems perfectly healthy; having no sign of ticks or fly eggs anywhere. It pays us a visit 4-5 times each night and day. In the dark it ambles about all over the place, but during daylight it keeps under cover as much as possible; only breaking cover for the short dash to the tunnel where the biscuits are. We think that it might be a female, but it rolls into a ball too quickly for us to check. We are trying to get it away from the polytunnel, to reduce the danger of it picking up or passing on lungworm etc., by placing biscuits and water in our garden shrubbery but the little chap won't leave the polytunnel alone. We are going to create a couple of winter shelters for it using the unlimited amounts of straw, leaves and branches that we have at the coppice.

I don't spread manure around my trees, but I have several manure heaps which I keep topped-up to attract flies, insects for the benefit of the local birdlife, etc. Ihey are mostly strategically located where trespassers are most likely to enter the site.

A national survey by Butterfly Conservation, if anyone would like to participate: big butterfly count

Couldn't agree more.

Very interesting discussion about Photosynthesis in the current edition: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time I think I possibly now know how it works, probably.

My Ash came into leaf 2-3 weeks ahead of the Oaks (Leics.). It seems to be different around the country every year.