Sunday, 1 September 2013

Early start to coppicing

We've made an early start to our coppicing for 2013/14, due to when I'm free to work in the woods over the autumn and winter. Starting cutting a little earlier than usual doesn't make much difference the trees, but they'll have a slightly higher water content. But with two years to season I'm not worried about that.

We're working in an area in Sweep Wood, coppicing a wedge-shaped piece of land that includes a route used in the past for timber extraction, barely visible in the centre of this photo:

DSC_6990 woodland

We got stuck into the cutting, though there were a lot of smaller trees to clear first - these take nearly as much time as the larger trees but don't yield much wood...
DSC_6985 coppicing

DSC_6991 coppicing

DSC_6993 coppicing

After a few hours we'd made a reasonable start, including constructing a rack to store the logs in until next summer:
DSC_7001 coppicing

Not many logs in the rack yet, but it's a start...
DSC_7002 logs stacked to season

I also discovered a rhododendron I thought I'd killed some years ago had recovered, so I made short work of it and pulled up more of the roots this time. I won't be surprised to see it back again though....
DSC_7008 destroyed rhododendron

Looking forward to getting some more working days in there while the weather is still nice!

Mike

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