Week 4: The coppicing begins

We start work on our own plot! At last the trees are dormant enough and there are few enough leaves for us to begin cutting.

We have been allocated an area, roughly an acre in size, of neglected woodland and set the task of turning it into managed coppice by next March. No pressure then!

Initially it looked to be just a tangle of trees of various sizes, some multi-stemmed, some twisted, some dead or dying and all tied together with brambles and honeysuckle. Where should we begin. By asking us questions and teasing out our existing knowledge and common sense Nick helped us work out how to approach the job and how to think logically about the sequence of work. If we started with the small trees we would create enough space to tackle the bigger ones and we could learn safely on ones that would not do too much damage if they did not fall exactly where we wanted them to.

He showed us how to make a directional cut on the side where we wanted the tree to fall.

Nick prepares for the felling cut

Nick starts the felling cut

Then we were shown how to take off the branches with the billhook to leave a neat, straight piece of wood. And how to then trim up the branches to give faggot wood, pea sticks from hazel or brish for making besom brooms from birch.

And armed with slashers, bowsaws and billhooks we fanned out to find a suitable tree!

For the rest of that day and the following one we practiced felling, snedding and sorting the wood into piles, gradually learning how to choose the sequence of clearing. We are expected to get on with things and learn for ourselves but with 3 tutors to 6 students there is always someone nearby to ask advice from and a discreet eye is always being kept on our activities in case we are about to do something really stupid. Even so I cut down an ash which should really have been allowed to grow on! I think I have been forgiven!

David commencing his felling cut

Sue sets to work on her felled Birch

Kieron snedding