Building a culvert in the woods

Today I put in a culvert in the wood with my Dad's help. It's in the track to Sweep Wood, at a spot where a seasonal stream flows across the path, which in the past has made it difficult to get past there on foot sometimes, and doesn't help when we need to drive in there to collect logs either.

We started by digging a trench for the pipe I'd bought:

Then where it crosses the tyre tracks, we dug out a pit on either side:

In each pit we put some bricks stacked up, with other rubble round them:

then laid reinforced concrete slabs over the top:

At each side is a small retaining structure made of bricks:

and on top of the bricks we put some heavy Alder logs to hold the soil back:

On the upstream side there's also a sump, to collect silt:

Here it is all covered over, and ready to walk and drive over:

While we were there, we also cut a drainage channel through the bank at the side, next to where a lot of water collected in the winter:

and used the soil from that to raise the level of the lowest part of the ride a little bit:

Hopefully these two changes will make the path easier for us to use, and for all the walkers using the footpath as well.

We did one other little job while we were there - cutting some slices out of one the the Sycamores we felled in January:

My Dad's going to take them and hopefully make small tables from them...

Mike

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Working in a different woodland

This weekend I went over to visit our friends Rich and Penny and work in their woodland. We're actually doing a swap - Rich will be coming to help me put some solar PV panels on our roof in a couple of months - but it was also fun to go and see their wood and work in a different setting.

Part of their wood is a bit hillier than ours, and has more of a stream in it, enough to warrant a foot bridge (under construction):

and a bridge to drive over too:

It was along the side of the stream we were working, using a tirfor winch to pull some large chestnut away from the stream as they were felled.

We had a nice spot for lunch each day, and it didn't even rain on us!

Under another tarp, I saw a nice shave horse Rich had made, and a lovely Hazel chair Penny had done as well:

We should be back in our own wood just for a day in the next week or two, to deal with those two big Sycamore near the neighbouring barn. We've actually just started burning the Sycamore from a year ago, having exhausted our 2-year seasoned supply. Next year I think we'll get right through the winter on 2-year old wood though.

Mike

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Rain!

Well, we did go to the woods today, as we were meeting someone there to talk about opportunities for working together later this year (which went well), but the weather was so miserable we didn't get a single tool out of the land rover. We did get to walk round the wood at least, and saw the nice new bridge that the footpath people came and built a couple of weeks ago, over the stream on the other side of the wayleave:
The old one is behind it in pieces - I expect it was easy to break up, as it had got pretty rotten.

Back in Sweep Wood, we noticed that something, perhaps rabbits or squirrels, have been gnawing the bark on some Ash trees:
They'd better not let me catch them at it or there'll be trouble....

Mike

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Sunshine and showers

Well, that was the forecast, and that's what we got. I think this is the first picture I've taken of a rainbow while in the wood. Not much of one, but a start at least - it wouldn't have been possible until recently, as you couldn't see across the yard next door.
We had David Brown, from South East Woodland Archaeology Forum, visit during the day to have a look at some of the features in the wood and tell us what they are - I'll do another post on that in a week or two, once we've had some better weather to get pictures. I think David will visit again as well, to investigate further...

While that was going I spent most of the day splitting logs, catching up with all the stuff we'd felled a few weeks ago. The racks are looking fuller now, but there's still a bit to go.
We also did a bit of general tidying up, sorting out some of the Hazel into different thicknesses, with my Dad picking out a few for making walking sticks.
Tracy got to do some sawing as well, which she was pleased about after spending most of the day wandering round the wood looking at various ditches and backs with David (though she did enjoy that too!).
At the end of the day we popped down to our wood to do a few jobs, and I found that the stream is at last flowing! About a month late, compared to 2008... Anyway, our mini-waterfall is back in the culvert now:
Last but not least, I cut a slice off a sycamore that had been lying on bearers for a few weeks, to see if the wood inside was suitable for my Dad to try some pyrography on, but it has this weird fungal growth going through it already:
I guess Sycamore doesn't last well outdoors!

Mike

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A new woodland neighbour

My friend Alex was visiting yesterday - he's recently bought a plot of woodland next to ours, and this was his first visit since completing the purchase. So, I took a few hours off work in the middle of the day and we went up to have a look round the woods.

It's still pretty wet, after the rain earlier in the week:
and the seasonal stream in his wood is flowing nicely:
We found an interesting animal track, boar we think:
you could see where they crossed the stream, after which they head across the wayleave:
With the leaves off the trees you notice a lot more, and I loved this old coppiced hornbean:
We also took a rather precarious load of stakes back in the trailer for a customer at the allotment, though because the track was wet we pushed the trailer up to where the stakes were rather than driving. Thankfully it's a light trailer and easy to push!

Tomorrow we're off to a SWOG event to learn all about pest control, which in woodland generally means squirrels, rabbits and deer.

Mike

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After the wind and rain

On Monday it finally stopped raining, so Paul and Penny came to the wood to help with some more coppicing (and to eat the venison casserole that they brought)
After all the rain, our little woodland stream was flowing nicely. I wish it was there in the summer too! We did a quick check of the wood and there was no visible wind blow.
First jobs first - get the lunch cooking. Paul lit the fire using a fire steel and a piece of cotton wool. It lit first go!
Then the work began, I spent an hour carrying logs down the track, ready to sell at the allotment while Paul took out his frustrations on a tree!
Paul and Penny got a good amount of coppicing done along the ride, every bit of sunlight helps!
Rosie and Harvey had a really busy day running around madly - poor Rosie wore herself out!
All the bird food I had left out has gone, so I replenished it and in seconds the robin was back. Lovely to be in the wood again!

Tracy

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Wet day in the woods

We were in the woods yesterday, despite the rain. We cycled up on the electric bikes, as we like to avoid driving up and down the track, if possible, when it's muddy. Of course, there are times that we have to drive up and, and the same applies to other owners in the wood, but every time we go on bike that's one less trip and a bit less damage.

While I was waiting for a friend to arrive I had a look at a stream in one of the other patches in the woods, that a friend of mine has just finished purchasing. With the rain in the past couple of days it was in full flow:

and further upstream it had spread to leave a wider wet area:
I'm somewhat envious - it would be nice to have a stream this big in our wood too!

On the wayleave it's easy to see the animal tracks now that the leaves have died back and the ground is wet. Here's one that's used by deer and boar:
When Ian arrived we had a walk around the wood, talking about the different things we're doing. He's just getting into forestry work, so we had a lot to chat about. We felled a few trees, giving Ian a chance to see some new techniques - though I took pains to remind him that I'm not a qualified instructor and he still needs to go on a training course! Here we are looking at how to remove a small tree that I'd deliberately hung up:
By the way, I wrote a post yesterday on dealing with hung up trees.

Before we went home Tracy built a small fire to dry one of her shoes, which had managed to collect rain despite being under the shelter!
Her shoe ended up smelling of smoke, but it probably made the bike ride home a little more comfortable.

We're up there again tomorrow, partly to work, but also because we have a class of five-year-olds visiting from a local school!

Mike

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Water, water everywhere

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past couple of weeks - I'm working full time for a short period while work is busy, so not getting up to the wood very much. Only one more week though, and then the coppicing gets going again.

We had a lot of rain on Monday, and the streams are flowing in the wood again now. Tracy popped up on Tuesday and took some pictures. First though, the river outside our house also got pretty high:
Our winter stream in the wood starts at our border with Dome Wood, and flows into the cant we cut last winter.
On the way it flows under a root plate of a windblown birch - the trees were removed last winter, but we used a log to prop the root plate up, as we though it was an interesting feature. The stream then meanders through the wood, passing just below our shelter.After which it goes down a mini-waterfall into the culvert under the main ride:
And comes out the other side.
After this it carries on through the wood and eventually onto the wayleave, where most of it goes into a drainage ditch, although the track is still pretty wet:
Here;'s a short video, first of the stream in Sweep Wood (which my parents own, and borders ours), and then of the stream at the culvert in our own wood:

Autumn is well and truly here now. The leaves are almost all brown on the oaks and the coppice regrowth, and have gone completely from the more mature coppice.

We're up at the wood briefly tomorrow to collect some firewood, weather permitting, and off to visit a friend's wood on Sunday.

Mike

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