A new book on woodlands - Managing your Woodland for Wildlife by David Blakesley and Peter Buckley After 20 years of selling woodlands to people “for enjoyment and conservation” we realised that although the purchasers wanted to do their best for conservation, encouraging biodiversity, protecting endangered species, and just having more birds, bluebells and butterflies, they were sometimes unsure of how best to set about it.  Read more...

Many insect species are under threat - butterflies , dragonflies, beetles; according to the Red List.  In most cases, this can be associated with habitat loss. Read more...

Many woodlands in the UK have historically been managed as coppice, yielding high productivity and benefiting biodiversity. In recent decades the management of coppice woodland has declined due to mechanisation, conifer plantations and cheap imports of timber.  But now, as more people focus on sustainable wood production, sourcing local produce and promoting biodiversity, the interest in coppicing as a woodland management method is rising again. Read more...

The New Stone Age or Neolithic Period saw the development of settlements and farming. The transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer began and gradually spread across Britain. The construction of settlements and the adoption of farming (a practice that probably began some 10,000 years earlier in the Fertile Crescent) involved the clearing of woodland or forest. It was achieved with fire and the use of flint and polished stone axes. Pollen records suggest a decline between 4000 and 3000 BC in tree species such as ash and an increase in plants such as nettles and plantains.  As ash tends to grow on the edges of woods, its decline could well be associated with the clearance of parts of the wildwood for agriculture, though it may also have disappeared because of disease. Read more...

Coppicing is a woodland management method in which the wood from a tree is harvested by cutting a suitable tree near ground level.  It subsequently regrows over a period of years without needing to be replanted. This technique is different from pollarding, in which branches are cut at, or above, head height, leaving the possibility of grazing underneath the growing branches. Coppicing is done on rotation: small areas of a woodland are cut each year in sequence leaving the areas not being cut to grow on for between 15 and 20 years for chestnut, and about 7 years for hazel. When an area of coppice is cut, it is all cut down, and creates a clearing. This periodic coppicing encourages the individual trees to live for up to hundreds of years. If the coppice cycle is managed correctly it can increase biodiversity in the woodland because of the beneficial effects of varying light levels reaching the woodland floor, and the range of different aged trees and stools in the woodland. The best time to coppice chestnut is well after the autumn leaf fall when the sap has gone down, and certainly well before the sap rises in the spring. The basic procedure for coppicing chestnut is as follows: Clear out all leaves and other debris around the base of the stool. Cut and clear away any dead or dying stems. Progressively cut each stem starting with the most accessible sections and working in to the centre of the stool. Ideally one cut should be made about 1-2 inches above where the branch grows out of the stool. That cut should be angled some 15 to 20 degrees from horizontal with the lowest point facing outwards from the centre of the stool. In some cases it maybe necessary to make a first cut higher and then trim back as above. Remember to: Fell away from the wind and fell all the poles in one direction. Make sure you are working upwind of any campfire Always leave a fire in a safe condition when leaving the woodland. Once cut, the poles produced are usually processed to some extent in the woodland: they are often cut to length, and perhaps de-barked. In many cases the coppicer will process further and create spiles (stakes or strong fencing posts), or will split the chestnut into various sizes for fencing. Some even make hurdles for keeping sheep in pens. An approximate guide the diameter of felled coppice for further processing is: Lathes: 1” to 1½” Tree stakes: 1½” to 2” Fencing Stakes: 2” to 3” Straining posts: 4” to 5” Post and Rails for cleaving: 6” to 8” In the UK the main trees that are coppiced are sweet chestnut, hazel and hornbeam. Chestnut has traditionally been used for fencing whereas hazel is more likely to have been used for thatching, hedge-laying spars and hurdle making. Hornbeam was used for charcoal making. Historically chestnut coppice growing has been strongest in the south East of England, especially Kent and East Sussex. Although it is said that the Romans introduced it, there is some evidence that coppicing was practised in England in Neolithic times. There are many areas of the UK where hazel and hornbeam have been grown, but the Midlands and Devon still have much hazel woodland useful for the remaining thatchers.

Some 90% of the charcoal used in the UK is imported. In terms of CO2 emissions, this is not good news as so much petrol/fossil fuel is used up transporting it to the UK. So why not use home produced charcoal? This is now possible if your charcoal comes from the Bioregional Charcoal Company (BRCC) or if you are visiting Wakehurst Place in West Sussex, then you can buy their locally made charcoal from the Visitor Centre.   Read more...