Sunday, 7 November 2010

Finishing off the sycamore

We were in the wood yesterday, as we were hosting a Butterfly Conservation volunteer day. This went well, I've put a few pictures on the Rother Guardians blog.

While that was going on, I worked with our friend Carl to finish clearing up the Sycamore that had been felled the day before using a UNIMOG and a cherry picker. Carl's going to take the wood away and split it up so he can use it to heat the family's home next winter, so our deal was that I'd cut the large chunks of wood into pieces that could be carried:

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while Carl managed the fire to burn up all the brash that was left:
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We're pleased the wood is only travelling a short distance to where it will be used, and it's saved us a big job, as we want to focus on coppicing rather than processing and storing a few cubic metres of wood! We've got plenty from our coppicing activities for our own home heating anyway.

All that's left of the Sycamore are some stumps now:
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Our plan is now to cut them every few years as they regrow, so they never get big enough to become a problem again.

Mike

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