Sunday 26 May 2019

Update from the woods

It's been a while since I last found time to update this blog, as there's been a lot on. The sad bit is that one of our cockatiels, Tom, passed away - there's a memorial video of him here. We've also been involved in the Extinction Rebellion action on the climate emergency - I've livestreamed from some of the actions here. The coppicing was completed in early February - here's a video walk-through of the area:


Winter seemed to come and go, with things warming up enough for sap to flow from the stumps of coppiced Birch trees, and then cooling enough for that sap to freeze:
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I spotted the first Bluebell open on 29 March:

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About the same time as the Wood Anemones were in full bloom:
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A month later, Bluebells had entirely replaced the Wood Anemones in that spot, which was where we'd coppiced just over a year ago:
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Elsewhere in the woods the wild boar had been busy digging up grass to look for food:
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and I tried taking some arty photos of woodland scenes:
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Mike

2 comments:

R said...

Is this going to be a "tree bog" kind of affair - i.e. no need for separating solids and liquids, it just all falls into a pile and feeds quick growing willow or other crops planted around it? Happy to give you some quick growing willow (osier) cuttings if you like

Mike Pepler said...

Unsure yet whether to put a separator in... I've seen them in other toilets, and they don't always work very well, so I might just encourage people to pee elsewhere! My plan is to build two cubicles, so one can be used for a while, and then left to compost before being dug out while the other one is used. I like the idea of adding some willow around it though, we have quite a bit growing in the wayleave nearby, though no idea what type it is.