The Woodlands.co.uk Blog - September 2008
How to Lay a Hedge
Hedges are an important part of our countryside, yet they are functional too. The use of hedges goes back hundreds of years (perhaps more) and is an effective way to keep in livestock and mark boundaries. They also have very important benefits for wildlife as they are home to many nesting birds, small mammals and many insects. Apart from being a habitat they also provide a corridor for the movement of animals across field systems and between woodland areas. Landowners need to maintain them but sometimes they get out of control (the hedges rather than the land owners) and once they reach over 4 metres in height they start to encroach upon fields and become “gappy” at the base. It is at this point that they need to be laid - ideally by an experienced hedge layer.
What is Treen?
Treen is literally “of the tree”, objects made of wood. In the days before plastic, wood was the commonest and most inexpensive material for all the small household items we take for granted – bowls, spoons, boxes etc. Also wooden-handled tools and implements. Collectively, these came to be known as “treen”. In these days of mass production, there isn’t much reason to spend time carving these items except for the pleasure of working wood and the creative satisfaction of making something. Nevertheless, it is an increasingly popular craft and beautiful treen items are often for sale at craft and wood fairs.
Galls and Oaks
Not only do oak trees form part of our landscape but they also support an enormous range of organisms. Birds may make their nests in the canopy, spiders spin their webs in the twigs, squirrels gather the acorns, and many insects devour the leaves. However, some insects make a home in the tissues of the trees and create new structures; these are called plant galls. Read more…
Rosehip Syrup
After a pretty dull and rainy summer, the woodlands and hedgerows are glowing with colour as berries ripen and mushrooms spring up overnight. Autumn is my favourite time of year in the woods and already I’m looking to experiment with a little more than the usual blackberries, which, as always, are juicy and plentiful. Read more…
“Nature’s Playground” Marchwood Art Project (2008)
I became involved with the project when I answered an advertisement in the Artist News magazine (AN). It was under the heading “Loose Dogs and Loose Artists”. The title intrigued me, so I contacted them and arranged a meeting. After receiving a large page of directions on how to find it, this is how the project began. The first mystery was solved when I arrived at the meeting point, opposite the entrance gate there was a sign that read: “LOOSE DOGS KEEP OUT”.
Horse Chestnut Woes! - Dealing with disease
Back in 2006, the Woodlands blog commented on the problems facing horse chestnuts, namely disease ( leaf miner moths, leaf blotch fungus, bleeding canker) and drought. The last of these may have disappeared for the time being as we have just experienced one of the wettest Augusts on record, however bleeding canker and the leaf miner continue to be problematical and are spreading.
Men Only – Are we excluding women from UK woodlands?
One of the cultural issues we have come across at Woodlands.co.uk is that historically forestry has been a men-only sort of thing.