Learning as we go: business as usual at Old Copse

One of the items in our 5 year plan for Old Copse 2 (i.e. a second block of 15 acres, purchased in January 2013) was, by way of an experiment,  to clear fell an acre or so in the birchwood. The birch, being a pioneer species, rushed into the space cleared by the 1987 storm  that knocked down the then 30 year old scots pine plantation. We originally planned to replant this area with a variety of broadleaves . But as we grew to know this bit of the wood better, we saw that it was in fact surprisingly diverse, rather than just a birch monoculture. The birch have acted as 'nurse' trees, protecting a good number of flourishing young oak, beech, rowan, cherry, sweet chestnut etc. So, happily, we don't need to clear fell, which in any case would only mean an inrush of intractable bracken, as we've seen elsewhere in the wood. Instead we will give the young broadleaves more light and space by carefully 'halo' thinning around them.

The new track/bluebell walk through the birchwood entailed quite a bit of  felling to allow machinery through during the Scots Pine thin of late 2015. This newly cleared space has already created a wildlife corridor for a growing number of birds and butterflies that use it as a short cut through the wood and feed on the plants on the sunny edges. It is extremely gratifying to see how quickly wildlife spots an opportunity. We will continue to widen this corridor, pollarding the birch along its edges and planting  home grown hazel  underneath. This track is not in full sun all the time, but has dappled shade at different times of the day, along its length. We think this variation in light and shade has prevented the dreaded bracken from taking over.

The deer are back, especially does with their young. Having mostly disappeared, to the deer stalkers frustration, during the winter and early Spring months, they soon learned that it is now closed season for doe shooting.  There is plenty of  evidence of their return, especially around the car-park where the flattened grass attests to their enjoying the  morning sunshine. The stag season begins in August, so they have a respite of a couple of months in which to snack on everything the wood offers. The Spring and early Summer weather -  warm sunshine with regular periods of rain -  has resulted in lush growth, so perhaps the deer will be content with grass rather than seedling trees. Hmm, wishful thinking perhaps, so we've been continuing to protect emerging trees, primarily oak and beech. We've covered 64 so far. We only expect a proportion of these to survive, so in addition, next  autumn/winter we will be planting our homegrown Old Copse transplants - about 50 have been successful, augmented with bought in tree 'whips' from a nearby tree nursery. Our aim is a minimum of 200 seedlings and new planted trees in Old Copse by the end of next winter.


Last week was half-term so children were in the wood amusing themselves with axes and knives. This might sound dangerous, but with the right instruction they soon learn how to handle these tools safely. They gained, I think, a good sense of achievement and satisfaction by chopping kindling for the log burner, making a new swing, and carving spoons.

Practising with the axe

Spoon whittling