A quick update...

Just a quick update on our progress. We've now got two straight weeks in the wood, bar a couple of days to rest and visit family. Today was a pleasant change - sunny all day, and the temperature up a few degrees. Not sure it will stay like this though...

After the coming two weeks I've not got much more time off work, so we're currently figuring out what we can finish in the time remaining and trying to make sure all the loose ends are dealt with. To that end, I spent most of yesterday and today splitting logs, and now there are some nicely filled racks:
These are from the chestnut Tracy's been felling on the past few visits - she's not so quick at the splitting, so that's my job, and now I've finally caught up with all the trees she'd felled! The splitting is pretty hard work, but well worth it as the wood can season properly over the coming year now.

While I was doing that, Tracy was roping and felling several Hornbeam stems, creating this clear area:
Hornbeam has a surprising amount of brash on it, this is just from one smallish stem:
The next task is to continue to clear the area next to our neighbour's barn (see earlier picture) - we don't want to leave trees that might grow to be a problem there. After that we need to take a look at the border trees (Holly and Hornbeam) and decide which to fell. We'll leave some, but at least half need to come out to let light in for regrowth of the coppiced trees and ground flora. We're wondering whether to restore a hedge on the boundary - there was one there many years ago.

We've also got another visit from Butterfly Conservation volunteers coming up, so we're planning what work should be done on that day, making sure it will fit in with our plan for the remaining time we have.

Mike