Willow Pollarding in the snow

Our  Willow Grove at Old Copse hadn't been pollarded (cut at around head height)  since we created it  (together with Milo and Martha) in January 2015,  so this winter we decided it was time to do it again. It was a particularly cold day, and shortly after we started, so did the snow. 

 

John, our forester, and Ana, from Mexico

    A clump of pollarded willow

Goat Willow grows very well in this part of the 'wet wood', the main wet wood nearby is full of very tall Alder trees which are closely associated with wet woodland (see Woodland Trust article). However some goat willows had started to grow tall and spindly and a couple had collapsed onto the ground for the deer to eat.  Old Copse was, and still is to an extent,  lacking in a range of tree age and height, having been completely untouched for many years. Regular pollarding, i.e. cutting  at shoulder height ,  gives trees strength and stability . It also  keeps the foliage out of reach of deer. 

We pollarded half of the Willow Grove this time, leaving the other 50%  until  next year, because the Emperor butterfly, which we are trying to attract, need goat willow leaves, their favourite food plant, to eat and lay their eggs on. Hatched larvae are well camouflaged with the midrib of willow leaves. The caterpillars overwinter in willow twig forks, then pupate in the Summer and are active at night.  

The beautiful Purple Emperor butterfly

As adults, purple emperor's main food sources are aphid honeydew and tree sap, though they also come to ground to feed on animal dung and carrion .During July, males congregate on particularly tall 'master trees' awaiting mates. Females either couple up with a male or swoop to the ground as a signal that they have already mated. 

Despite a decline in the 20th century, thought to have been caused by widespread   large-scale loss and fragmentation of ancient woodland  together with the removal and  'tidying-up' of areas of goat willow, which is usually considered  non-productive 'scrub', it seems the Purple Emperors may be expanding its range again,  even into suburban areas particularly in  South -central England which is still  their  prime territory . Knepp Castle has had enormous success in attracting Purple Emperors due to their rewilding programme, and that isn't far from Old Copse. They favour oak woodland, and though Old Copse has a fair number of oaks, with many regenerating naturally (and protected from deer)  there aren't that many tall ones in the vicinity of the Willow Grove, so we hope they might make use of the tall birches instead.  

Burning the Brash. No chance of setting the woodland floor on fire in the cold and wet

First time we've seen icicles at the cabin

A rare sight - snowing in the wood 

Wet woodland looks different regionally, like this carr with birch, alder and willow.

Credit: Alastair Hotchkiss / WTML

Old year new year

It feels like being stuck in a time warp. Here we are at the start of 2021, back in 'lockdown' once again. As in  Spring  last year we will continue work  at Old Copse (in between  the demands of actual  paid work), in  the forthcoming weeks, months, or however long it takes . We still have to check the beehives during winter, and  continue with the usual seasonal tasks. We also have to respond to emergencies  like the large Scots Pine that  toppled over at the southern end of the wood in recent stormy weather, knocking off the top of a Beech as it fell. It was directly adjacent to the road,  so it's  fortunate that nobody was driving past at the time . The ground there is too poor, dry and shaded  to plant a successful wild hedge at the boundary so the resultant pine and beech brash will make a useful temporary 'dead' hedge.   

Fallen pine at the road edge

Our main project this winter is to restore an area of  derelict hazel coppice at the south end of the wood, adjacent to the road. In the old days, up to the end of the 17th century, the majority of Old Copse would have been coppiced   to produce wood for making charcoal  near to the dammed pond, to fuel the iron furnace/forge. The archeological surveyor who came to inspect Old Copse some years back , showed us numerous places adjacent to the pond where coppice workers had made charcoal hundreds of years ago.  It's taken us a while to get around to tackling it, but it's always been an important item on our to do list, and great to think that at last we're re-connecting Old Copse to its Wealden iron industry past.  The area was a complete mess, choked with fallen trees, enormously over grown hazel and holly, and very dark. It has been fairly challenging but with the professional help of  John, our forester, we've managed to (almost) get it done.

Overstood coppice before work started

Coppicing  is a traditional woodland practice which provides a steady supply of useful material for turning into firelogs, charcoal, hurdles, bean and pea sticks and many other uses. This part of woodland management is also excellent for wild life and bio diversity. Coppice rotation, i.e. regular cutting every 7 years or so, means that the light in the area changes over time and a  rich diversity of woodland ground flora is produced. We began to see this happening last Spring, after we had felled some of the holly that shaded out the ground,  and  wild daffodils and primroses appeared . We hope this will continue with a wide range of other ground flora. We hope too  that eventually a few dormice will find it to their liking, and decide to set up home. At least, that is the aim.       

 Temporary deer fence supported by hazel poles

Forester's assistant Lara supervising progress and guarding equipment 

The hazel has now been coppiced, holly removed, 60 new hazels planted, to add to those we coppiced, and  a temporary deer fence installed. We've also started a bit of 'layering' to produce more plants. Outside the deer fence are a number of  hazels which earlier this year we pollarded i.e. cut further up the stem,  and  protected with brash,  to see if the deer left them alone, which, surprisingly  they did.  So we'll pollard the rest of the hazel outside the deer fence and hope that they too remain unmolested .  Many thanks once again to Sussex Lund who continue to support us by funding our hazel coppice initiative , and other projects at Old Copse.

 

New hazel planting

Previously pollarded hazel  protected by brash

Coppiced hazel stool

There is now a large stack of hazel 'poles'  for fire wood, or for charcoal burning. We've had some experience of this (as shown here) so if we have the time later this year..............

                  Cut hazel poles with brash behind  and  Hawkins pond in the background.

We'll see how the coppice area gets on next year, and next Autumn/Winter plant more hazel  both in the restored coppice  and alongside the road. We'll extend the coppice coupe or form a new one once we've felled enough holly to let more light in. In doing this we'll be very careful , as usual, not to encourage bramble and bracken.   So,  we'll be busy for quite a while in these few acres at the neglected southern end of Old Copse. 

We've managed to do a little more tree planting elsewhere in the wood this season , though not as much as usual because of the coppice project.We like to get the whips into the ground by early January at the latest to help them get off to a good start in the Spring. Suppliers tend not to lift them  until late November so we  have a short planting time frame.  It's also been satisfying to plant our own home grown trees -   oak, beech, hazel, wild cherry, sweet chestnut  etc.  Thanks to Sarah's Mum who kindly dug up and donated seedling  oaks from her garden , and which have now grown large enough to be planted out in the wood. Maybe  we should label them  all,  'Ann's Oak '  The tree nursery is looking pretty empty at the moment. Perhaps she'll have some more for us soon. 

For readers  interested in the Sussex  Wealden Iron Industry, and making charcoal the traditional (Earthburn) way, there's loads of interesting information online. Here's an evocative extract from  Wealden Iron: A Short History by Helen Pearce 2018  

'The remaining ponds cannot hint at the widespread heavy industry that dominated the scene a few centuries ago. The clamour of the hammers, the acrid smoke from the furnaces, the countless miners, fillers, finers, hammermen and carters, the roads blocked by oxen hauling iron and fuel, and riverboats laden with bar-iron would have presented a far busier and noisier landscape than today’s peaceful waters. Weed and silt have reduced some ponds in size while others have been altered for ornamental purposes. All have been reclaimed by flora and fauna, and many are now within Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Often assumed to be natural beauty spots in the High Weald (now an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) these delightful artificial lakes are useful reminders of the largely concealed post-industrial nature of so much of our countryside.'

Oh, almost forgot, for the 4th time we've won a Woodland  Award from Woodlands.co.uk.This year we were winners of the best tree planting project,  welcome recognition for what the two of us are doing at Old Copse. There are many committed woodland restorers  all over the country carrying  on this important  work  and  it's always nice to win an award and to receive a lovely box of useful woodland equipment, and  books as a New year surprise.  

Tree Planting

Our ongoing tree planting project at Old Copse is a vital component of the restoration of 30 acres of ASNW, (partially PAWS), situated in an AONB, part designated SSSI.* 

In the mid 1950's almost all of the original ancient woodland was clear felled and Scots Pine planted across the site. The big storm of 1987 blew down half of the plantation, and birch and other broadleaves are now regenerating in areas where once only pines grew. Our project is to fell the majority of the remaining Scots Pine plantation, and return it to mixed woodland. We are doing this gradually and carefully and replanting in the gaps to maintain 'continuous cover'. 

As part of our management plan we started by felling approximately a third of the Scots Pine plantation in December 2015, and in late 2016 started planting a mix of broadleaves: oak, beech, wild cherry, hornbeam, chestnut and hazel, in the open areas created by the felling. The species mix has been chosen to match those occurring naturally on the site, supplemented by a few English native trees not found within the existing vegetative community, such as small-leaved limes. We aim to achieve a healthy diversity to help the wood withstand the threats of climate change. We have now planted well over 1,000 trees. Every year we fell a little more and replant in the gaps. 

Replanting in the gaps in the plantation

Three years on some of the hornbeams are more than 7ft tall 

Foreground - new planting and remaining Scots Pines, background - remnant original woodland

Oak emerging from tree shelter 

We have planted more than 1000 trees. Note also regenerating ground flora encouraged by the removal of bracken.

Replanting is augmented by a great deal of natural regeneration prompted by the felling, predominantly oak, beech, rowan, alder buckthorn and goat willow. All promising regeneration has to be protected from deer predation. We also transplant any regeneration growing in the 'wrong place' such as the middle of the rides, and grow them on in our deer proof tree enclosure before planting them out elsewhere in the wood. 

Protecting regenerating beech with recycled tree tubes

Growing on natural regeneration in our deer-proof enclosure

By implementing the continuous cover system, newly planted trees might not grow as fast as if they were planted on an open, treeless site, but we've been surprised and pleased at their good rate of growth. We've also been quite lucky with the weather over the past few years, especially the last wet winter which helped the newly planted whips settle in and make it through hot, dry summers. Losses have been minimal. We've been unable to find long lasting, biodegradable tree tubes so we use a mixture of recycled, mesh, standard plastic and home-made wire shelters.   

The future: To continue what we've been doing since late 2016, aiming to fell a further 20% or so of Scots Pine in the next few years, replant, and repeat until the majority of the Scots Pine have been replaced by broadleaves. It is very encouraging to see the difference in the woodland since the felling and replanting began just 3 1/2 years ago. Lastly, because restoring a wood costs money, a further bonus of the felling operations is that the sale of timber for both chip and sawlogs has helped finance other projects in the wood, including the planting of over half a mile of boundary hedge.  

* 

ASNW - Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland

PAWS - Plantation on an Ancient Woodland Site

AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

SSSI - Site of Special Scientific Interest 

Growth

This is the time of year to go around the wood looking for seedling trees. They are springing up everywhere, primarily oak, beech, cherry, rowan, alder buckthorn,and  birch. If they're growing in the 'right' place, which is just about anywhere off the Ride, we mark them with a red topped stick and return later to protect them from deer with a small tree tube and stake. Any that pop up on the Ride itself are dug up and planted in the tree seedling enclosure to grow on  and planted back in the wood when they are are a decent size. The birch come up in their hundreds, and dozens have come up around the cabin. Usually the deer eat them  but this year, for the first time we can remember they have hardly touched them. We think it's a combination of them being elsewhere in the Forest at this time of the year, and good deer management.

Oak, cherry and beech seedlings being removed from the ride to grow on

Last year's seedlings are doing well and will be planted out this winter.

This annual job is a really good way to examine what's going on in the wood at ground level. We got really excited when we spotted this empty nest hidden in a mass of dead bracken. Could it be a woodcock's nest? We have seen and heard them in the wood, but this nest seemed a bit big. After a bit of Internet research we concluded it was probably made by the Canada geese. It was beautifully made, but how successfully Canadas rear their young is another question. We're always coming across eggshells in the wood, presumably predated by squirrels and foxes.

The bees are doing well.On June 9th Krzyzstof came to harvest Old Copse honey for the first time. We'll find out how productive they were when we next see him.

The smoker is used to calm the bees while Kriss harvests the honey

Here's a link to Kris's Instagram account with a bit of video of Old Copse bees enjoying the sunshine. 

The hazel grove

We had always intended to extend the hedge to continue south and west from the bottom gate in OC1 down to the fishermen's gate, to form a continuous boundary. As explained in this post in January, when scoping it out, we realised that we had a much bigger and more exciting project on our hands.

We're going to try and create some suitable habitat for dormice. Petra's dormice boxes are untenanted, probably because there isn't enough food or cover for dormice. The new hedge will provide additional food (berries, shoots etc), but the hazel needs to be taken in hand (coppiced and/or pollarded) to make it more productive. But first the holly needs to be tackled as it has badly overshadowed the area.

Shade from the holly makes everything grown tall and spindly

This could be lovely

   Henri, Andy, Felix and friend came on the first Sunday in April to help do some holly bashing. Good progress was made, but there is a LOT of holly. This will be an ongoing project for the summer. An application has gone into Sussex Lund for a small grant to pay for the hedging and some additional hazel whips to extend the area.

Child labour enjoying a bonfire

   

Busy January, working and looking.

A beautiful day. Cold but gloriously sunny. We started the day with  more  hedge planting along the roadside,  a project we began last winter.  The idea is to do a bit more each year until there is a substantial  barrier between the wood and the road, and then, when it has grown tall and thick enough, start laying it in the traditional way. It's all experimentation so we'll see how it goes. The hedging plants have done better at the northern end , not so well  at the south. Not sure why, perhaps because it's  shadier down there, and the ground is definitely worse, almost all sandstone and clay.

It's easier and faster to do this time around because we're not using rabbit spirals as there don't seem to be any rabbits, or bamboo canes as these don't seem to have much of a purpose. The plants appear to be doing fine without them. Plus, we're becoming tree and hedge planting experts!

There is quite a lot of  badly neglected hazel at the southern boundary . Originally planted for coppicing, it hasn't been touched for many years , and  branches have grown long, thin and tangled , bending in all directions, and over 30 feet in height.  Cutting will improve its health and strength. 

  

                                            Hazel before it is coppiced or pollarded

While ideally we would coppice them it's going to be almost impossible because the deer will eat all the emerging new shoots however much we try and protect them.  So, we'll  pollard the stems, i.e.  cut them at above deer munching height . At least this will add a different  height layer to the wood. The  Willow Grove which we started working on a few years ago, has been very successful in creating a much needed shrub layer for the wood. That project is ongoing , we are still felling birch there, and  will have to cut the pollard stems soon, but we are pleased with the results of our work. Luckily, hazel is much easier to cut than hard springy willow, so it shouldn't take us too long to get the job done.
.

Pollarded hazel, surrounded by the cut tops, to keep the deer from eating the new Spring shoots
.

                                            Part of the pollarded Willow Grove in winter.



At this time of the year. the wide paths made by the machinery during the Scots Pine plantation thin in late 2015 are very noticeable. After the work was done, these paths were just churned mud, but now they are grassy small glades , with a much more diverse ground flora. This is because the tractor flattened the bracken and seems to have destroyed its rhizomatic  roots - the welcome result being that it hasn't returned!  a real bonus. It might even be worth doing a bit more thinning in the Scots Pine area just to get rid of more bracken. Bracken is a problem for us, and there is a great deal of information on this: e,g, as  Professor Rob Marrs from Liverpool University says:

'Brambles, bracken and ivy are threatening the future of Britain's woodland, new research has concluded. ... Biologists fear the plants are a major threat to biodiversity in Britain's wooded areas and are potentially more damaging than invasive species that have been introduced to the countryside from abroad'.

New  glades thanks to tractor bashing.

A stroll through the 'wet wood'  , though not as wet as it should be this dry winter,  on the way to the (soon to be )  Hazel Grove

Full moon tonight, reflected in the Hammer Pond. 

Planting continues

A murky January day getting on with planting. We've begun this annual winter task a bit late , normally trying to get it done before Christmas. There won't be as much to do this year. Only planning to plant  about 200  this season.  We started with creating a small Hazel Grove  in an area of the wood colonised by birch , choosing a spot with a lot of bramble in it, which clearly gets more sun than other areas .  The hazel should do well here, with the added bonus of it eventually shading out the bramble . It's all about the light levels  - too much light  and an area is taken over by bracken and bramble, too little, and nothing much will grow.   We are always conscious of trying to strike the best balance. We are using recycled tree tubes, and the stakes are  poles from another area of the wood where there is a lot of neglected hazel. We will pollard  this before the Spring to improve its health and strength and harvest their very useful, strong and straight  poles at the same time.   We might also try a bit of experimental coppicing, but are a bit wary of doing this because of the somewhat diminishing, but still present  chance of deer depredation. They love fresh green hazel shoots!

The hazel poles have the bonus of often producing roots, which will  double the number of  plants

A patch of bramble which will very quickly increase in size if left another season.We have plenty of the stuff for wildlife, but un-managed it will very soon take over  a large area 

The soil here was pretty good for planting - not too much sandstone.