An Informative Day Out

It's always interesting to visit woods and see what others are doing. Last week we joined a group of woodland owners,  professionals, volunteers and assorted dogs, for an Ancient Woodland Restoration Workshop run by the Woodland Trust. A lovely day for it too - dry, mild and sunny.

We started off at the Roebuck Inn in Laughton Village for presentations which  included Restoration at Vert Woods; Deer Control;  Woodland Grants; Wood Fuel Options; and Woodland Archaeology. Some of the people present were new woodland owners, keen to learn as much as possible about how to manage their woods; but  we, as 6 1/2 year woodland  'veterans'  were encouraged that we were already familiar with much  of what we heard, and that overall  we were going along the right tracks in our ongoing restoration of Old Copse.

After an excellent lunch at the Inn we set off for nearby Lower Vert Wood which is within the larger area of Laughton Woods in East Sussex. Lower Vert Wood is around 70 hectares (172 acres) of PAWS (Plantation on an Ancient Woodland Site), plus another 20 - 30 hectares of other woodland, with patches of heathland and other habitat.  The wood is completely flat,  unlike Old Copse, though  the soil and vegetation is similar. There are about 15 owners with plots of varying sizes.  In addition in the adjacent Upper Vert Wood there is  a  large, newly acquired 'community' woodland which has the overall aim of increasing bio-diversity, and where courses, volunteer work days and other activities will take place .

We stopped to look at some sections where the conifer plantation has been thinned.  Regeneration has been good and it  no longer looked like plantation, but more like a mixed wood of broadleaves interspersed with fine specimens of  Scots Pine and other conifers. There are deer present, but it seemed not in the numbers present in Old Copse.  

Coppice Protection using  a barrier of very prickly gorse

                                               A thinned area with good regeneration.

What the day reminded us, both  in the presentations and talking with others there, was that there is really no single answer to how specific restoration problems should be understood and managed. It's more that there are a set of principles and some tactics for applying them. For example, the bracken problem. This was touched upon during our tour of Lower Vert Wood.where some thinned areas are infested with bracken and we discussed how bracken rushes in as soon as the dense woodland becomes lighter.  At Old Copse, while our aim is to maintain continuous cover,  we are reaching the end of  a 30% thin of the un-managed Scots Pine plantation, and perhaps we will have let too much light in at once. Arguably it would have been preferable if thinning had  been done very gradually every few years since it was planted in 1956  but we are dealing with woodland neglected for 60 years, and slightly more drastic action was  needed.  So, yes, more light will be let in , which we want, but it will also mean  that there will be more bracken,  and increased bracken means a lower chance of natural re-generation:

 Extracts from the Woodland Trust's  'The conservation and restoration of plantation on ancient woodland sites. A guide for woodland owners and managers':

'High light levels' provide ideal conditions for coarse or generalist vegetation, such as bracken, bramble, coarse grasses, nettles, and rosebay willow herb.' 

 We should be aiming for 'moderate shade' which approximates to favourable conditions for remnant woodland species (mimicking those found in the pre-plantation ancient woodland)'

While avoiding/remedying 'prolonged heavy shade'  which can eventually be  beyond the tolerance of even the most resilient woodland species.

So, there we have a bit of a quandary.  Opening up the canopy =  an inrush of unwelcome vegetation which will threaten the survival of vulnerable woodland species, and also of regenerating and newly planted trees. Quite a balancing act is called for. We are formulating a plan that is based on the following: Firstly, try to increase light levels gradually, and avoid any clear felling. Do a certain amount of replanting in the opened up areas , while  also protecting  any natural re-generation -  both from deer, and rampant bracken and bramble encroachment. This coarse vegetation possibly has some use in offering limited  protection to new planting, but must be prevented from swamping it. The hope is that the growing trees will cast increasing shade on the bramble and bracken,  eventually reducing its impact on the woodland.  Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Of course, the elephant in the room, or rather, the deer in the wood,  is even more of a concern. Unless we can control these, Old Copse's prospects look quite bleak. We are hoping to make more progress on the deer front this winter, but realistically we think it will take several years more to obtain a balance whereby we still have some deer in the wood, but not so many that the understory will never get going and emerging trees are destroyed.

There is no co-ordinated  single Forestry Commission management plan for the multiple owners of Lower Vert Wood, or presumably the rest of Laughton Woods, but the Woodland Trust hopes to be able to put together an overall 'vision' for the landscape which includes the wider area of Laughton Woods together with  Lower Vert Wood which forms  a part of it. This sounds like a tall order. One of the owners told me that some of the others have no particular plans for their piece of woodland, and/or their woodland is just not a priority , while others do have plans for continuing improvement. This can be difficult when you have an 'improver/restorer right next door to a more laissez faire owner, who might for example, let their boundary trees grow over and shade 'their' side of a shared Ride/path.  However, this sort of 'mixed' management  was seen by the owner I talked to as a plus in that it all adds to the 'diversity' of this large area. I'm not sure about this. I think it has to be better to try and see the whole picture and plan accordingly, rather than managing bits of it on an ad hoc basis. Though I could well be wrong. As I said, there seems to be no one answer when it comes to PAWS restoration.

Still, these are very attractive woods, with a great deal of potential . Occasionally plots come up for sale, such as the one described below advertised  on 'Woodlots'  in  October.

15 acres mixed woodland for sale - East Sussex. 

Lovely plot of 15 acres of woodland for sale. Sits within much larger Upper and Lower Vert Woods, North-east of Lewes. Mixed species: oak, chestnut, birch, pine and hornbeam. Lovely spot and good access via two gates and protected track. Guide Price £75k.

http://www.woodnet.org.uk/woodlots/jobs-and-opportunities

A roundhouse being built from local materials

                                     

Sometimes it's better to leave a favourite tree standing even if it's an overstood hornbeam pollard.

                           He works for the Forestry Commission and definitely enjoyed the day
                                                 even if he did have to stay on his lead.

Visiting Other Woods

Autumn was well advanced high in the Troodos mountain forest near Mount Olympus on a recent visit. The whole area is extremely rich in  flora including the wild service tree, juniper, oriental alder and plane; golden oak and black pine -  many of these over 500 years old, and some up to a 1,000. Plus waterfalls , and streams flickering with young trout. The major threat to these beautiful,  natural woods is fire during the scorching summers. At least we don't have that to contend with at damp Old Copse. Much birdlife too: treecreepers , woodlarks, warblers ,  nightingales  - and  Hoopoes, my favourite.

Strawberry Tree trunks, moss covered rocks. Looks like a Japanese garden.

Oriental Plane, Black Pine

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.