Springtime Regeneration

A new patch of Bilberry 

We've been hurrying to search out newly regenerating tree seedlings before the deer eat everything. It's a bit of a race against time. The fallow deer season ends April 30th, and after that it's the closed season until August 1st. So for three months they can run riot in Old Copse eating everything in sight, but especially the tender and tasty newly regenerating shoots.  There's been a lot of walking about these past few weeks looking for tiny seedlings to mark with tape before protecting them with recycled tree tubes and home-made hazel stakes. There appears to be much more regeneration than in previous years. This could be due to a number of reasons: the felling of Scots Pine and birch to let in more light;  the ongoing routine of  bracken bashing which prevents ground flora being buried in mounds of dead bracken,  and the gradual reduction in deer numbers .

Alder seedling in the 'wet wood'

Here are a couple of photos which show the difference made by bracken management. The first photo shows our 'control' area  in the Scots Pine plantation where the Pine has been thinned but no replanting or bracken bashing has been done. Note how dead bracken has smothered the ground flora - no bluebells or very much else can survive in these conditions. In contrast, the two other photos show a couple of areas where the bracken has been ruthlessly removed, and which were devoid of bluebells until this Spring.

We wrote about our spreading patches of wild daffodils in a previous post. Here are some more examples of regenerating ground flora:

Violets 

Just outside the cabin - ferns, wood sorrel, birch, grasses

New lush grass in a damp spot 

Rowan emerges in abundance and is usually eaten by deer, but we protect some we want to keep. We'll need to fit a longer tube on the rowan in the photo below .

A new patch of heather

Woodsage

Willow springing up next to the deck

We're getting much better at growing our own trees . Last December we came across abundant acorns at Wakehurst Place (National Trust/Kew Gardens), 13 miles from Old Copse. They looked especially large and robust, so we gathered a couple of handfuls and plonked them into small pots of compost , not really expecting much of a result. So we were very pleased to see them all successfully germinating and growing into sturdy young oak trees. We should have more than 40 to plant out next Autumn.

It has been an exceptionally dry Spring so far and we have been worrying about the survival of the 500 + tree 'whips' we planted last Autumn. But  under the dry pine needle and deciduous leaf  'crust', the soil is still damp. We would like a really good downpour though to get the trees through their first season. Both the willow grove and the alder wood are looking good, inhabited by marsh tits attracted by their dampness.

Willow pollards with shoots removed last winter. We pollard by rotation, a section at a time, so there's a variety of growth..

We came across a fallow deer corpse in the willow grove. We think it might have been injured on the road and made its way into the willow grove to die. Herbie was very interested, but also nervous about approaching it. After a bit he decided that the corpse wasn't a threat and  got closer to have a sniff. It was quite fresh - the buzzards, crows , foxes and badgers will make short work of it.

On the cusp

 

The only Hornbeam in the wood and on its left, the only Aspen 

The wood is on the point of bursting into leaf and flower. A lovely time of the year,

We had a chat with a fisherman on the Pond who said he saw a huge group of  deer last week on the opposite side of the water. He heard the noise of their hooves before he spotted them. He managed to count 46 including 5 or 6 white ones, which are a sign of overpopulation and inbreeding. The deer stalking season is now over and  soon this year's young will be born, enlarging numbers even further. The deer stalker only managed to bag four this season, so we're not even keeping up with their reproduction rates. Clearly we'll need to do something more, though not sure what. Introduce a couple of  lynx or a wolf perhaps......................

The willows pollarded this year are just starting to shoot.

The willows pollarded last year are in leaf. The ground is sodden with recent rain, attracting many insects and a variety of birdlife. Just waiting for the Purple Emperor butterfly to put in an appearance.

Pollarded willows

Returned mid-week to complete the final pieces of work in creating this new habitat. Another restoration job done! Just thought I would explain in a bit more detail what we're trying to do ...

Sallow or Goat Willow (Salix caprea) is the foodstuff for caterpillars of a number of moths, including the sallow kitten and sallow clearwing, but what interests us most is that it is the main food plant for the purple emperor butterfly. The area we are working in has many sallows, but they were all overcrowded by birch and growing very tall and thin. Unable to support themselves they then toppled over and were eaten by the deer.

Straggly willow growth is lopped off ...

Following advice on managing sallows we removed the birch to let light in to promote new growth, and then pollarded the sallows to about six feet. This should make them stronger and keep new growth out of deer range.  All the brash has now been arranged around the pollarded stems to protect from deer depredation.

... and turned into pollard protectors

We have been careful to ensure that the sallows are still shaded from the south and west, as it appears that the Purple Emperor prefers shaded Goat Willow leaves with mid-green, soft, matt (upper surface) leaves. A few taller birch and a mature alder have been left to provide partial shade. We'll keep an eye on light levels during the summer.

Come the Spring we're looking forward to seeing the the new willow shoots.  

The purple empire

At work in the willow

Yesterday the pollarding of the willow was finally finished -  hurrah!  Milo plus helpers made short work of it, and now there are mounds of willow tops protecting the pollarded trees and neat stacks of willow, which when seasoned, we'll try out in the log burner as a change from birch.  We can't wait to see the results of our labour next Spring and look forward to sitting above the willow grove to see if the Purple Emperor butterfly, (one of the reasons that this part of Old Copse is a SSSI), has been enticed back.

Admiring the results so far

The Purple Emperor

The Purple Emperor is the second largest butterfly in Britain ... only the Swallowtail being larger. It is rarely seen unless a special effort is made to find it as it flies high in the tree-tops of woodland where it feeds on aphid honeydew and sap runs. Its range is now restricted to some of the larger woods in southern England. There are colonies in Southwater Woods (eight miles to the west) and at Knepp Castle Estate (nine miles to the southwest), so it's not unreasonable to hope that it could one day return to Old Copse if the conditions are right. 

Conversations at the Woodfair

To the Bentley Woodfair on Friday to meet the experts and have wood-related conversations. Here's a record of some of the things we learned and the people we met.

Managing sallows (Salix caprea)
We  met an understory expert who was weaving willow baskets. He advised that sallows are short-lived and need active management. Pollarding is ideal. The pollarded tree will send out shoots that grown c 3ft each year. These shoots should be harvested in rotation cutting every one or two years. The one year shoots can be used for pea sticks, the two year shoots for creating in situ rough hurdles or for dry hedging. Sallow shoots are not suitable for basket weaving (unlike osiers) as they have too many side shoots, which even if cut off will leave the main shoot weakened. Regular pollarding and harvesting of shoots will raise the light levels and create the diversity of ages of growth that butterflies need for food sources. So, we really need to get on with completing the pollarding of the willow grove, especially if we aim to attract the purple emperor back to its historic breeding ground.

Old Copse pines were planted in 1957
Falling in conversation with a dealer in edged tools from Eridge, he told us that his first job in 1957 was planting and caring for the pine plantation in Old Copse. He witnessed 7ft wide beech trees being cut down and dragged out of the wood to clear for the pine planting. More than 50 years later, he still remembers the sight and thought it was a shame. His job was to weed between the newly planted pines. He worked alone and never saw anyone from one week to the next, apart from the forester who arrived in his landrover to pay him his wages.  Must have been a lonely job.

Growing oyster mushrooms
Had a long chat with Richard Mansfield-Clark of www.rusticmushrooms.co.uk on cultivating mushrooms on logs. Unlike conventional wisdom (ie what I have learned from searching the Internet) he maintained:

• once mushroom impregnated dowels have been inserted into logs, there is no need to seal the dowel ends with wax. It doesn't provide much protection and is expensive.
• there is no need to put logs in a plastic bag. The important thing is to keep the logs damp. The best way to do this is to stand the logs on end, with the bottom ends buried c 6" in the ground. He showed me a picture of his mushroom logs standing upright, supported by a simple horizontal bar to stop them falling over
• once mushrooms have fruited, they will continue for the following two/three years

SWA or SWOG - what's the difference?
There is a lot of crossover in membership. Small Woods Association has been established longer and typically members have slightly larger woods. SWOG is sponsored and supported by woodlands.co.uk and reflects the interests of smaller woodland owners who are often newer wood owners.

Nice things to buy
Finally met a nice brother and sister selling all things fire-related at www.firemad.co.uk. Based in Horsham, we have invited them to the wood to see the log cabin. Might buy a lantern as well!

Pollarding the willow grove

In a damp area that we call the willow grove, which contains many ferns, mosses and liverworts, there is a fairly large group of willows, mostly  'sallow', surrounded by weedy birch.  The willow had grown extremely tall and spindly as they were being crowded out by the birch,  and some had fallen over.  Much of the birch was removed , which let in a lot more light. Coppicing,  i.e. cutting them right down to the ground,  would strengthen the willow and encourage vigorous new growth . Unfortunately this wasn't an option,  as our excessive deer population would have soon made short shrift of  juicy new willow shoots.

Instead it was decided that pollarding would be the best treatment. By cutting them off at head height, rather than at ground level,  new growth would be out of reach of  browsing deer.  Sarah had  experimented successfully with a few willows in another part of the wood, so some more were pollarded  in the willow grove. This Spring some encouraging results may be seen. The pollarded willows have now begun to put out strong new growth.  This provides a very welcome element to the woodland structure. But there is still much to do.

 Some of the remaining willows are still too tall and remain vulnerable to keeling over and being devoured by the deer.

Recently pollarded willow (foreground),willow pollarded last year with regrowth (background)

Willows in need of pollarding

These remaining uncut willows have been drawn up by the dense birch which grew around them. Now the birch has been removed they will have the light they need when they are pollarded. 

July

 We ignored the prolonged bad weather of winter 2010/11 and created a new ride to give views of the pond. It will do for the time being but needs to be widened. Some of the spindly  birch has been cleared around the sallow to create better conditions for this to thrive in the planned ' willow grove'. There's some regeneration along the ride edge and in the birch clearing, though  regrowth might have  been eaten by deer. There's some improvement along the road edge and at the sunnier end of the ride as a result of  our determined bracken control .

 The kingfisher didn't  appear again after the winter, and although a single great crested grebe was seen earlier in the year, there has been no breeding this summer.  No sign of the white admiral butterfly either. It is not clear if this is because they have been absent, or just been missed. Perhaps  rideside clearing has destroyed some  honeysuckle they use as a foodplant, although there is  still plenty of it growing  in shady locations next to the ride edges.

Sightings: A  group  of newly fledged birds including most of the tits,  young nuthatch, (with much duller plumage than their colourful parents) , and a family of treecreepers. Blackcap and chiffchaff were singing in the wood, rather surprising ,   as the wood lacks the shrubby growth they prefer.
A  grass snake on the ride,  sidling away rapidly up the bank . A short distance further on,  the loud  screeching of jays, which continued for some time before  3 emerged from the pines in pursuit of a tawny owl, whom they had disturbed from its roost.  Over the willow grove,  a small bank vole emerged from the scrub to explore nearby  logs  holding  a piece of bread in his paws.  A Roe deer, an unusual sight at Old Copse, and redder and springier than  the Fallow deer we see all the time.