Can't see the wood for the holly

While trying to decide where to thin some Scots Pine on the north-west side of OC2 we saw that we would first have to remove a great deal of dense dark holly in order to see what we were doing.  

Holly has value in woodland. The berries are a valuable foodstuff for birds. It's a food plant for the Holly Blue butterfly. A holly understory is thought to help create a more stable micro climate for roosting bats. This can be very important as they risk frost damage to delicate wing, tail, and ear membranes. Dense groves of holly are characteristic of the woodland type we have at Old Copse: lowland acid beech and oak woods (NVC W15 /16).

But holly can form an underwood almost as effective as rhododendron in eliminating ground vegetation, so clearing it from around mature beech and oak will be necessary  if oak and beech are to regenerate. At present continuous belts of holly are obscuring large and small oaks, beech and rowan. The aim is to establish instead, holly stands with oak and beech between them. When the job is done the deciduous trees will have more light and space, and we will be able to see more clearly which Scots Pine needs to be removed and which can be left to grow on.

A dense holly wall blocks light and access

After a bit of clearance it's possible to see what lies beyond the holly

Veteran beech hiding in the holly

As in all aspects of woodland management, some sort of balance is needed. What comes first, protecting healthy deciduous trees and encouraging  natural regeneration, or making sure that birds have plenty to eat, and bats keep their ears warm? How do we make sure we  protect all woodland interests? Well, I think the bats' ears will be ok, it doesn't get that cold in the parts of the wood  with the densest holly, and enough will be left for them to keep their roosts warm. The same with the birds, not all the holly will be removed, so there should still be plenty of food for them. And for the fallow deer too.


Holly is a tough wood, especially when cutting with a bow saw;  a chainsaw is potentially dangerous in a holly removal situation as it's difficult to see what's what in the midst of the tangle of prickly springiness. Also, the worst of the holly is growing  in the steepest part of the wood, so for obvious reasons, handtools are best for the job. Cut trunks and branches are easy to haul about into bonfire piles, and results are gratifyingly speedy.

Happy Christmas 2014

Visiting another wood

Such an enjoyable and interesting  visit to Sylvia and Steve's wood, 4 1/2 miles south west of  Old Copse.  The wood , on flat land,  is  part of a narrow 'shaw' surrounded by fields. It is designated ancient woodland, and the structure of it is perfect,  with  many mature trees, a canopy of mainly ash ( no sign of ash die back disease)  with  beech, oak and birch,  -  a mature  hawthorn and even  a wild service tree.  The understory has much hazel,  some crab apple and  bird cherry. The floor is smothered in dog's mercury,  and sedge which they are controlling in the wet and compacted areas. As for woodland 'thugs', there are a few small patches of bramble, and a bit of bracken around the edges - lucky people.  This structure is exactly what we're aiming for at  Old Copse.

The farmer who sold them the land had previously used the wooded section for an  off road 4 x 4  business which caused extensive  damage to the ground. But it is now slowly healing, and at this time of the year the scars are difficult to see. In time, though many of the worst compacted ruts will remain, they will soften and eventually blend in. It's good that Sylvia and Steve have stepped in to look after this lovely piece of woodland.

There is not much evidence of deer, though they are certainly around. Their deer stalker seems to have done a great job in reducing their numbers .  In addition to the woodland there is an adjoining  2 acre field. 3 years ago they planted up most of it,  leaving an open area in the middle, with a mixture of native broadleaves, and a variety of fruit and nut trees. These have suffered periodic deer attacks, but the majority have survived and many of them  are now just about above deer munching height. They made simple (and relatively cheap) deer protectors of stakes and fencing wire (bought by the roll from Horsham Fencing).The deer have tried, with some success, to push these down, but overall this protection has been adequate.

One of our management plan targets is to clear fell 1/2 hectare in the OC2 birch and replant with native broadleaves.  Old Copse topography is different to Sylvia and Steve's, though the underlying soil is more or less the same. One of the difficulties in doing something similar to them is that Old Copse is on a slope and the top soil is probably a great deal thinner and less fertile than their flat open field. Next time we visit we will check the depth and take a soil sample. Sylvia explained that most of their trees were supplied by Ashridge nurseries, which we will investigate.

Other useful tips  included their lighting system, which consists of LED bulbs connected to a battery. They use a 15W solar panel to recharge the battery. This is not permanently mounted, but moved in and out as required and to catch the sun. They also have an inverter to run laptops. Suppliers include LED Hut (online)and Maplins. They suggested that we try a strimmer for bracken control. This is another good idea, and we may try hiring one for a day to see how effective one is before we take the step of buying one.

Spring Bluebells

Here are a few photos of this year's bluebell display, fading a bit now, as they've been early this year due to the warm  Spring. The cabin may just be glimpsed  between the trees in a couple of the photos. I wish I had recorded the absence of bluebells in previous years in this area. While, in theory, bluebells are unaffected by the bracken as they flower before it is full grown, in practice we have noted that a thick covering of dead bracken definitely inhibits them. By dogged bashing every year from May to September the bluebells are now thriving.

The absence of' understory is very noticeable, as the deer eat everything that tries to come up. At this time of year, thousands of rowan, and other seedlings can be seen in the ground layer, but they'll soon be browsed off by deer. We are considering  enclosing a section of the wood in the SSSI  with temporary deer fencing (depending on cost) , to monitor the difference made by excluding deer .