Tirfor winch vs large broken oak branch

When we got to the woods today, we saw that a large branch had mysteriously broken in an oak tree but was still attached, presenting a potential danger. So as soon as Jon & family arrived, we put him to work!

Here's the video, showing how the Tirfor winch is set up, using endless slings to attach to trees and, of course, the branch coming down:

After all that hard work it was time for a BBQ, though it looks like Tracy is getting smoked as well here...

Tilly had a good time too, as Jon let her off the lead for the first time ever - here she is returning to him when called, with Mia chasing her!

Looking forward to the next time!

Mike

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First woodland BBQ of 2013

On Easter Monday we actually had our first BBQ in the woods, with our friends Jon and Louise visiting with their girls!

Yes, it was cold, but OK while the sun was out, and we had a fire burning as well... We also had various activities going on - Tracy and I had spent the morning moving logs on the arbor trolley:

The logs were loaded into the cutting racks and strapped down:

Tracy then got busy with the camera and got some good shots! First, adjusting the chain tension on the chainsaw:

Then cutting up the logs:

As you can see, she didn't let a few saw chips get in her way!

There was some hand-sawing as well, with Megan and Mia getting involved:

They were helping Jon cut a piece off a seasoned birch log, that we then proceeded to make into a mallet. Here's Jon using a side axe to start trimming the handle down:

You can see Jon's finished mallet here. There'll be a video on how to make a mallet coming shortly...

We also had a wander round the woods to look for signs of Spring. First up is some swelling buds on our fruit trees - maybe this year it won't rain continuously while the blossom is there, so the bees can actually get out and pollinate...

Then over in my friend Alex's wood, which faces closer to south than ours, we saw our first Wood Anemones of the year!

The whole woodland floor over there is looking much greener with the bluebells coming up...

Looking forward to a full show of Wood Anemones soon!

Mike

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BBQ and woodland skills

On Monday we had our friends Tina and Jeff visit, along with Emma and Dan. The weather was good and after a trip to the beach and a walk around Rye we went up to the wood for a BBQ
But before eating everyone had to earn their food! We started with using the maul to split some wood for the fire:
Then we moved on to making stakes, which Jeff got pretty good at by the end of the day:
The stakes will be put to use this winter, to hold log piles in place during coppicing.

After dinner we came to the highlight - felling a tree. When coppicing last winter we left a stem which was used to attach a rope to hold up the old shelter. But now we have a new shelter, so it was time for it to come down.

Our next project is building a timber drying store, which hopefully we'll get done this afternoon.

Mike

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Bank Holiday in the wood

We had a good crowd yesterday in the wood, for BBQ, chat, fire, wildlife and various other woodland activities. People came and went through the day, but it was generally busy:
For cooking I tried an experiment with our BBQ - I started a fire in it and loaded it up with chunks of chestnut:By limiting the air supply I did manage to get some of to start turning to charcoal:
I did add a bit of charcoal we'd bought, but at least some of what burned was our own - I'll have to get on and make a small kiln next...

Paul had another method - He'd brought a grill with him, and we used that with a few bricks and collected embers from the main fire - very effective!
Harvey was very well behaved, but while we were all eating he had to be tied up:But it wasn't long before Tracy took pity and came to keep him company:
Paul told us that Harvey like to ride in wheelbarrows, but Harvey wasn't so convinced...
Once he was in there he seemed to like it though!
He wasn't the only one to enjoy playing in the wheelbarrow - Joshua liked it too!
OK, so what wildlife did we see with all this activity going on? Well, lots of birds around as usual, and Andrew (the pastor form our church) was able to help us identify them by their calls - he's a bit of a bird expert! I do at least know what a Chiff Chaff sounds like now!

The wayleave is turning back into a jungle again:
and even things that are dead seem to have not realised their situation yet, such as our chopping block (serving as water dispenser here):
Here's a zoom onto the side of it:We saw some cool beetles too:
and a grass snake (no pictures of this one, sorry).

A bit of work did get done too. Brash burning was in progress as usual (not much left now). Also, I'd bought a maul (for log splitting) at the market on the way out, and Paul was keen to demonstrate:
The other job that got done was the tree shelters, which were cut into smaller pieces for the self-seeded oak:
and also put round the chestnut we planted a week ago, which all seem to have taken to the their new homes OK:
Hopefully these shelters will give all these trees a better chance by keeping animals from nibbling their tender bark.

That's all for now, Thursday evening should be the next trip, when Rachel's brother will be visiting for the day.

Mike

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