Woodlands.co.uk - Energy, sustainability & economics
Greenridge – my wood.
Having been born and brought up in rural Devon and then subsequently spending a career of 50 years at sea, the prospect of retirement with all its encumbrance of zimmer frames and wheel chairs was not sitting too comfortably on my shoulders. A year into this experience, at about the time the wife stopped talking to me, and with the feeling of guilt experienced every morning of really not doing very much constructive with my life, except walk the two Springers the obligatory six miles a day along the coast outside my home – it really felt as if the rot was well and truly starting to set in. That is until one day, whilst exploring a quiet part of Northumberland, I espied a Woodlands.co.uk for sale sign. Read more…
Small Woods Association – a nunnery or a hothouse?
The Small Woods Association is a remarkable organisation with three unusual women at the core of it – Jude Walker, its CEO, Angle Pollard who runs their social forestry programme and Diane Wood – the SWA treasurer. For those who notice these things, it’s interesting that that their surnames are all related to woodlands and what they do – encouraging walking and pollarding in woods – an illustration of aptronyms perhaps (names which are very apt for the job they do). These women, along with Phil Tidey and their team at the Greenwood Centre, have built up the Small Woods Association into a very effective charity which has turnover of almost 3/4 million pounds and a clear objective of promoting sustainable conservation of small woodlands, but in recent years it has developed a particular emphasis on social forestry, meaning woodland projects with health and social objectives. Read more…
Monterey Pine – Pinus radiata
Monterey Pine or Radiata Pine (Pinus radiata) is found naturally in the coastal area around Monterey in California. There, it is under threat from Pine Pitch Canker (a fungal disease), which makes them liable to attack by bark beetles. Monterey pine is to be found growing in milder parts of the UK (where it grows faster than in its native habitat), and in coastal areas as it is resistant to salt spray.
The pine is extensively and intensively used in forestry, especially in countries like New Zealand (like the Kaingaroa Forest on the North Island). The monterey pine can be used for erosion control on steep slopes – as it has a widespread and fast growing root system
The growth form of the tree is conic at first, but as the tree ages it becomes dome shaped with heavily, twisted branches. Read more…
What’s been happening to Scottish Forestry? Tilhill tell all.
Tilhill UPM manage many large private forestry estates and produce an excellent annual report on the state of the market both for the land itself and forestry products. Some time back, I went to the presentation of Tilhill’s 2011 Forest Market Report which was surprisingly upbeat. The main message was that land values are strongly up, forest product prices are strongly up and volumes of land sold, measured by value, are at historically high levels. Property values have increased about 15% in the year to the end of September 2011, according to Crispin Golding of Tilhill UPM, mainly because: there is increased demand for land from investors who are tax-driven or who are looking for safe havens for cash, or both; timber prices have gone up principally because of high oil prices and the devaluation of the pound (making UK timber forestry output more competitive with foreign countries including the Baltic States who are enormous timber exporters). Read more…
Renewable energy from solar energy and woodfuel
People respond emotionally to wind turbines but seem happy to see their neighbours installing solar panels. This acceptance of solar made me keen to install solar panels at home, which we have just done.
The process has taught me a lot, not least because it showed me how ignorant I was about the economics of domestic energy use – whilst we all know the cost of petrol few of us are aware of the price of a unit of domestic electricity – maybe physical volumes are easier to understand than something that goes down wires and is measured in confusing units.
Our 19 solar panels produce about 3.5 kilowatts, so if our annual production is about 1,000 hours we should produce 3,500 kwH of energy which turns out to be a high proportion of our domestic useage. Many British homes consume about this amount each year, so if I am able keep our consumption down we might even become net exporters. Read more…
Powys Forest Horses
I have recently set up a new business as a horse logger – using horses to help owners manage their woodlands in a sustainable way. Like many of us, I am concerned about the damage that machinery can do to woodlands but at the same time I feel that the UK’s woods will be more valued and better managed if owners can benefit from the woodland produce – and that means getting the timber out. I work with my horse Elza, to haul timber out of large and small woodlands with the aim of causing the minimum of damage. So, why did I become a horse logger? It doesn’t seem like a job that would immediately spring to mind if you were planning a change in career. Looking back at it now, I can see so many influences from my life which led to this point. From a lifelong love of woods and trees, to being Director of the South Yorkshire Community Forest and even being ruthlessly introduced to the joy of horses by my wife!
Forestry Commission accounts – a forest of facts
The Forestry Commission (FC) owns and manges over a million hectares of land and so must know a thing or two about UK forestry, and much is revealed in the Forestry Commission’s formal accounts. This is a long document, at over 150 pages, but rather than pay £23.50 for it you can get the accounts online for free. Even though it’s free many people would consider a set of Forestry Commission accounts to be a tedious read so we’ve been through them and dug out some interesting material. For example the key figure that the FC expect to pay for woodland management each year is about £72 per hectare or about £29 per acre per year, after taking account of income generated. Our surveys of owners of small woodlands show that they typically spend more than this on a per acre basis, so it is surprising that the report, rather dismissively, refers to strong demand for “hobby woodlands” and environmental ownership” Read more…
Lath Wood
My wife and I decided on the purchase of a small wood a few years ago. We were able to research financial, legal and physical practicalities on-line and www.woodlands.co.uk was the most useful site in our search for a suitable wood. We visited nine or ten woods across the South of England, from Devon in the West to Kent in the East. We were looking for a wood between 3 and 6 acres up to a spend of about £40K. Some people spend as much on a car, whilst for us non-drivers – a wood is a much better, permanent investment, especially when financial products are looking risky.
But we weren’t just looking for somewhere to bank money but a place of natural beauty and quietude to enjoy and preserve. Our wood had to be accessible from London by public transport but still a rural gem away from built habitation. We were ideally looking for a bluebell wood with a good mix of tree cover — not a conifer plantation. Read more…