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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Temporary deer fence supported by hazel poles |
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| 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.
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| New hazel planting |
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| Previously pollarded hazel protected by brash |
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| 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.
