woodyguy

Well observed. I think its botanical name is Hedera Ferrous, not too good in the chipper I've heard.

Am I missing something??? It's January. Over the next 5 days it's forecaste to have a low of -1c in Nottingham. We used to call that winter (sub-species mild). I know firewood suppliers pray for bad weather to sell more wood but when did a frosty windscreen in January become big news?

No MPT's are like buses. Don't see one for ages then come along in a pair.

Bit confused when you say it's dead as it seems to be growing healthily. Unless its a second tree behind in the photo???

Sounds a good compromise. When I had trouble with illicit off road motorbikes, the dog walkers stopped it instantly when I put signs up. So access is a two way trade.

Good advice apart from the fencing off bit. I'd rather my wood was a local resource valued by the community than my little castle. People value and protect woods they use.

OMG its going to be -1C in Derbyshire, later in the week. What will I do??? Better close the schools and nobody go to work. I know the English are obsessed with the weather but this level of hysteria is just pathetic. Now in USA they might be having some real weather.

My best plans come from avoiding dogma but doing a bit of something and seeing how it looks. You can always do more of something later. Woods are not in a hurry.

Bombus, I found it really hard to find this sort of info when planting my wood. Books are very vague and don’t really tell you about soil type, moisture levels and shade tolerance. I’ll annotate each on your list from my experience and extensive attempts to find out through internet/reading. You haven’t said what soil type you have and how moist it is. Its pretty hard to open up a one tree size gap and plant something. Only hornbeam will grow in that situation. i’d suggest opening up cleared areas and planting shade tolerant stuff around the edges and light demanding species in the middle. I tend to plant long term trees about 4 metres apart with the gaps between with coppice trees eg hazel at 2m spacings. Prunus avium - likes moisture, fairly shade tolerant grows fast Sorbus aucuparia will grow on sand, very shade tolerant, versatile and fast growing but short lived Prunus padus shrubby tree Betula pendula Short lived, open sky to grow. drier areas including sand Acer campestre versatile small tree, good wildlife and ok light shade Malus sylvestris open areas, small tree Alnus glutinosa prefers damp but will grow anywhere not dry. fast grower, can be coppiced, needs good light Quercus robur Needs good light, slow growing, likes tree shelters, wet or dry soil Tilia cordata slow to establish, shade tolerant, wide range of soils Castanea sativa will grow on drier soils including sand. shade tolerant, coppices well. Viburnum lantana small tree, prefers alkaline soils Sorbus aria like rowan, is supposed to like alkaline soils but grows fine on my acid sand. Carpinus betulus slow growing, likes damp soil, will grow in shade Rhamnus frangula shrubby tree Taxus baccata very slow to get started, will grow in deep shade and dry soils Juglans regia likes damp soil, good light, will stop other trees growing near it Juglans nigra as above.

Will reply a bit later when I've some time as that is a lengthy list of species.

I agree about leylandii. I've planted a few in my wood for shelter for nesting birds. Not too many though and 55 is a lot. Perhaps consider getting rid of 3/4 of them?

The ones off ebay are cheap and long lasting. They're fairly fine grained though so not great if a chain is damaged.

Firstly Hazel recoppicing is exempt if less than 15cm. Secondly you will cut the top 5 foot off minimum if you are making logs. So 6 metres long and 25cm at base and 10cm top so 17cm midpoint. That means you can do about 35 within your 5cu metre - according to the Forestrygovuk calculator. So ignore the hazel, do it over two quarters and your laughing. There isn't any exemption for leylandii sadly (many think there should be).

I'm sure you'll be delighted with the quality of the trees from Rob at 3fatpigs.

You almost certainly don't need a felling license. You can fell 5 cu metre per calendar quarter. That is a huge amount as its only the useable wood. Thinnings don't count. If you sell it then its only 2cu metre. Each quarter it resets. So you could cut 5 cube end of March and 5 cube beginning of April. No idea about grants as I avoid them but others will chime in I'm sure.

Yes that's about right. I've planted a load of hazel for two reasons. Firstly although I've a 7 acres wood I have only a handful of hazel stools. I'm infested with grey squirrels so the hazel doesn't naturally grow there now. So it's part of my policy of increasing diversity and hazel is good for a range of wildlife. In addition I have a powerline through my wood. This has 9 foot bracken, brambles and sycamore coppice under it. All of these are useless with the sycamore needing cutting every second year. So I've spent two years killing the bracken and controlling the brambles. Its now planted with hazel which I can then coppice when it is near the powerline and use to make woodland craft eg hurdles. I hope that this will only need doing every 6-8 years. So labour saving, good for wildlife and I enjoy making things with hazel. Like the poster, my wood has surprisingly little diversity of species. It hasn't regenerated a big range but has become overgrown with bracken and holly. So I'm a big fan of thinning the birch, controlling the bracken and planting a wide range for diversity. I'm sure if I left it for 300 years the holly would be superseded but I'm not going to live that long.

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.

I meant as a sustainable production of logs. Overgrown hazel stools are fine firewood but have a poor yield compared to ash or SC. Some overgrown stools will die rather than regrow when cut back as well. So hazel was coppiced on a 7 year cycle traditionally for 1-2inch thick growth for splitting. I've planted about 1000 hazel in my wood for coppicing but don't expect to get fire wood from them.

Interesting post and my situation is very similar. I've had a 7 acre wood for 2 years and like you is very overgrown. I've divided it up (in my head) into areas and work on one per year. In summer I clear the brambles with a massive mulch headed strimmer. Later I spray them when they regrow. I thin the trees and take out anything I don't want there. Then that winter I coppice anything overgrown but desirable and replant. Like you I have a paucity of species so replant with a much wider range. Bear in mind that with global warming, in 70 years when your trees are mature, we will probably have a climate like Italy. So things like Sweet Chestnut and Italian alder need a place. As you don't have a lot of cash, I'd do one area this winter and see if it gets grazed by deer. You want good regrowth but you're not doing it for a cash crop so if you lose a bit to the deer, who cares. Happy to advise on species. You need to sow the yellow rattle now as it needs significant frosting to grow next season. My plan only exists in my head. I certainly don't drive myself to keep to it as its for fun not a living. Hazel isnt suitable for firewood as coppice but Ash on 20 year cycle will.

You can cut things wherever you can safely support them. Generally though the advantage of a mill is that it can go to the tree. So I fell a 60 foot tall oak and mill the bottom 10 foot. That's going to be difficult to lift onto trestles to work at a good height. So generally trees are worked on the ground. With a big trunk the first few cuts may well be at a comfortable level but later on you'll be stooping. Yes it does my back in terribly.

Also for many consumers, wood can be too dry. Burning wood well below 20% is very hot and fast, so people don't always like it. Yes they don't want damp smouldering logs but kiln dried is a bit of a joke, if you then stack it in your damp shed and it goes up to 25%. The risk of infection does worry me more than the economics TBH.

3fatpigs in northern ireland (ask for Rob) are excellent with £6.99 postage. Great plants if he's got any left.

1/2 inch dewalt is not cheap but very good value. Don't faff about with 1/4 inch, you'll always regret it.

We are supposedly sentient beings, so have choice. A tree just grows in order to reproduce. When you're wind pollinated, being gay doesn't really have a meaning.

True they do all those things but only as an end towards reproducing.