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On buying a woodland

On buying a woodland

by David Harwood, 15 February, 2022, 0 comments

Recently, woodlands.co.uk asked me some questions about ‘buying a woodland’.  So here goes : How did you find your woodland? As a local, I found the woodland by walking with my partner and our dog. My partner’s family lived in the village for a number of years. Were there surprises you found in the first few weeks of owning your wood? The biggest surprise for me in the early weeks was the expansiveness of my woodland, every time I would visit I would find something different. This could be a different tree species,a path or a bird. Did you set up a campsite and how did that go?   One of my goals was to camp at least once a month, starting with my first month of ownership in January! Camping has given me the opportunity to spend more time in the woods, not just mornings /  afternoons and appreciate the peace and quietness. How have you managed the woodland?  Management so far has been cutting overstood hazel coupes for regeneration and collecting good firewood for home. Rotten or poor-quality wood has been collected and stacked for wildlife habitats, especially oak! The hazel rods have been for craft activities ,with the brush piles being left for insects. What are your future plans for the woodland?  Future plan for the woodland is to introduce different native species of tree. I have around 20 saplings I have potted on at home, that will eventually be moved into the wood. With the regeneration of hazel, the crop I intend to use to create deadwood hedges for protecting young trees from deer. How have various members of the family got involved in the woodland?  All of my family have visited the woods and helped in some way. Whether it be firewood, coppicing or bringing food to have with a hot drink!   What practical projects have you done or planned for your woodland?  How did you do these?  My partner and I both enjoy wood craft such as pyrography and woodturning. A lot of oak limbs that have come down during storms have been used to make presents for friends and family, and decorations for our home. What advice would you give to someone buying a small woodland?  My best bit of advice would be to wait for the woodland that has what you want. Woodlands come in all shapes and sizes; and getting the right patch can make your experience a lot more enjoyable. In terms of flora, what have you learnt in the woodland? I have learnt that woodlands like mine (broadleaf) provides a home for hundreds of plants, flowers and insects. The humid conditions in oak woodlands provides ideal conditions for rare / hard to find flowers such as orchids and so many types of fungi and lichens. David 
Masting

Masting

by The blog at woodlands.co.uk, 10 December, 2021, 0 comments

‘The Fall’ in the eastern United States has been colourful and plentiful this year.  There have been bumper crops of acorns, maple seeds and pine cones.  It is a Mast Year.  The trees have produced enormous numbers of potential offspring. These seeds and fruits will have significant 'knock on effects' in the ecosystems for some years.   Beeches and oaks can release so many seeds that they significantly increase the organic content of the soil and its nutrient value.  This fuels fungal and microbial growth. Small mammals feast on the acorns / mast and their numbers increase.  They, in turn, are food for foxes, owls and other predators *.   Quite what drives a mast year has long been a cause of speculation.  Ideas have included  masting evolved to overwhelm seed predators (mice, squirrels etc.) and thus ensure that at least some seeds survive to germinate and grow on.  fluctuations in nutrient availability affect the trees and flower / fruit production environmental prediction - that masting occurs in those years when seeds are likely to have good weather for sprouting in the following Spring.   even sunspot activity has been invoked Recently, a database [MASTREE] was created of mast years (for Beech and Norway Spruce) that extends back centuries.  This has enabled scientists to explore the environmental prediction idea, that is, whether masting is correlated with climatic events and occurs when seeds are likely to have favourable weather for germination and growth in the Spring after their production. On comparing the data with climate records, they found masting events [in beeches] correlated with climate patterns associated with the NAO - North Atlantic Oscillation, i.e. changes in air pressure between Iceland (low) and the Azores (high).  A “positive” NAO phase favours both masting and subsequent seedling growth; that is warm wet winters promote seed production and dry springs favour seedling growth.  Quite how the trees turn such climatic events into ‘signals’ for masting is another matter. Not all are convinced however. Some argue that the resources used up in producing so many seeds / fruits mean that the trees are exhausted and it takes time for these resources to be replaced and for the tree to flower and fruit fully again.   Professor David Kelly has a somewhat different hypothesis related to weather .  He suggests greater warmth in the previous growing season(s) may be the trigger.  Quite how the trees ‘remember’ the warmth that they have experienced is not known; but one thought is that it is due to what is termed ‘epigenetic marking’.  It is possible that the DNA of the genes that affect flowering is changed by the warm temperatures.   The activation of particular genes can be altered by their DNA undergoing methylation - a process where methyl (-CH3) groups are added (or removed) from the DNA.  Further information on masting and climatic effects on trees - visit science.org * [Sadly, a Swiss study found good masting years were later associated with a rise in tick-borne disease.]  

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