Spring flowers in the wood

As far as I'm concerned, Spring is now here:

They're Wood Anemones, just starting to flower in Sweep Wood, in a patch where we coppiced the trees just over a year ago. Nearby were also some Primroses flowering:

There's garden escapees as well, like daffodils:

and this - not sure what it is?

The plum tree at the top of the hill is flowering too:

and there's some really impressive Lords and Ladies coming on:

In the area we coppiced this winter, there's a visible increase in the greening of the woodland floor just over the past two weeks. Here the older one, followed by one from this weekend:

Finally, back at home, our cockatiels have decided that to celebrate Spring they will desert their cage and live on a bookshelf from now on:

Mike

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Nutstash woodland project

Just a quick post to point you in the direction of a brilliant project a friend of ours is running. Fiona's working with young people to help them gain skills in forestry and green woodworking.

Take a look: www.nutstash.co.uk

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More chainsawing logs...

Back to the woods yesterday to process more logs...

As usual, we took a few sacks from the older section of the store back home:

The other side of the store is now full, so that's about 1/4 of the wood needed for next winter now ready. We're definitely ahead compared to last year!

When we stopped for a short break, a Pheasant came wandering past, thinking he was invisible as always...

We left the bird feeder topped up again, as it had been emptied over the last week.

This bit of the wood's not looking very green yet - the sun needs to get a bit higher to start warming the ground there. That will come soon enough though...

Mike

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Getting the logs ready for next winter

This winter's not even over, but with sufficient logs back at home to take us through until spring, it was time to start refilling the shelter ready for next winter.

These logs are from trees that we felled in Oct-Dec 2009, and have been split and stacked since then, under tarpaulins for the past few months. Now they're cut up and in the shelter, they'll get a chance to really dry out before we burn them in winter 2011/12.

Because we won't be using the saws so much for a few months, I used both of our 346xp's to cut the stacks up, in order to drain the fuel tanks. A bit more awkward than using the 570, as you have to work from both sides, but better than leaving fuel in the tanks to go off.

Although it was sunny while we were there, the wood is pretty wet in general at the moment.

However, the combination of sunshine, water and rising temperatures is getting things going in the plant world. Buds are developing on the fruit trees:

and various other small plants are getting a head start ready for the summer:

Up at the top of Sweep Wood there are Primroses flowering:

and the view from the bottom, of the area we coppiced this winter, shows a gradual greening of the woodland floor:

Can't wait for the first flowers to appear...

Mike

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Spring is getting closer...

Although it was raining yesterday, we went briefly to the wood anyway, just to walk around and have a look at stuff. I took a few pics of the signs of spring approaching, though just with my mobile phone, so the quality isn't great. Here's the most obvious one: snowdrops, at the top of Sweep Wood

As you can see, it was a pretty murky day:

But I guess that's ideal for the plants - mild and wet. There's lots of thistles coming up where we coppiced a year ago, which will be good for the insects when they flower:

and nettles are regrowing fast as well - must remember to take some to eat this time!

Compared to two weeks ago, the Bluebells and Lords and Ladies where we've just been coppicing are also coming on well:

and there's a carpet of greenery appearing - I think I could see the leaves of Wood Anemone here, and there was Dogs Mercury and possibly Lesser Celandine in other spots.

Finally, over in Grist Wood, there's been some more coppicing going on. This is near the patch we've just done, so should create a really nice patchwork effect of older coppice and regrowth, so benefiting the wildlife. I'm looking forward to seeing it growing soon...

Mike

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