Well, 2020 has been a very different year. To be honest I've not felt like writing a blog for most of it, in February and March because I was worrying about the coronavirus pandemic and why the UK government wasn't taking timely action, then in April and May because I was helping with Rye Mutual Aid, then after that because I've been feeling what some people call 'covid lethargy', where the big picture of the pandemic leaves you feeling that it's not really worth doing anything. And then in the past couple of months we've both been really busy with work and coppicing, but now I finally have a rainy day when I'm not at work, so I thought it was time to do a recap of the Spring and Summer of 2020 in the woods.
Talking of rain, the year got off to a wet start, and in early March a blocked culvert under the road led to this flood in the woods on the access track.
A little before that, the Bluebells were sprouting nicely in mid-February, again quite early due to unseasonal warmth over the winter, presumably due to our changing climate.
Before they got round to flowering though, there were some other flowers to come out first, such as Primrose:
And the usual carpet of Wood Anemone:
Then, by late April, there was an amazing carpet of Bluebells in the area we'd coppiced in 2017-18:
The other thing that was doing well in late April was this wild apple tree. As we'd coppiced the trees to the south of it in 2018-19, it's had extra light for some time now, and it really showed in the volume of blossom on it:
As we moved into May, our friend Jim told us he'd spotted a Pheasant nesting in the woods, and we managed to sneak this photo of her. She's very well camouflaged though! We did later see a Raven attacking the nest to take the chicks, but I guess it had offspring that needed feeding too...
May does seem to be one of the greenest times in the woods, especially in an area that's coming into its second year of growth after coppicing:
It's a similar picture over in Sweep Wood, with third-year coppice regrowth on the right here:
There were still plenty of foxgloves along the footpath there, and I was pleased to capture this image of a bumblebee leaving one of them, as it was taken with my phone rather than my DSLR!
We got some practical work done as we headed into summer, such as rebuilding the ends of this culvert, which had collapsed a bit. Given that we first built it back in 2007, I guess this isn't too bad!
The culvert takes quite a battering each winter, as it does tend to get clogged with all the debris that comes down the stream, leaving me having to unblock it:
Summer also provided some woodland food, and our friend Rich brought some 'Chicken of the Woods' (Laetiporus), an edible fungus, for us to eat. It was really tasty!
The apple tree I mentioned earlier also produced a copious crop of apples, though these weren't any good for human consumption, other than for amusement by offering them to people who'd never tried them before!
Back in Sweep Wood, the area we'd coppiced in 2017-18 was looking great in the summer, with a wild diversity of plant life, including thistles that were taller than I was!
July was good month, part of the summer respite from the pandemic in the UK, and a long-planned camping trip actually went ahead. We made a few changes to keep it covid-safe, such as everyone having their own tent and there being plenty of hand-gel to use. As the virus mainly spreads indoors, a camping trip in the woods was probably the safest way for friends to meet up.
August brought swarms of dragonflies, so I spent a while with my DSLR capturing images of them in flight. I think this is an immature male Migrant Hawker, based on what I can see here, but I'm not 100% sure.
I had another interaction with insects over the summer, when my friend Johnnie came to help move logs. Unknown to us, there was a wasp nest buried in one of the log piles, and as we removed logs some of them tumbled and the nest was torn in half! As a cloud of wasps exploded into the air, my first thought was that I was really sorry for the wasps, but this was quickly followed by "RUN!" We got away with just one sting each, and I managed to get a cover back over the two halves of the nest in case the wasps could keep using them for a while. The logs weren't moved until much later in the year...
Here's pics of the two halves of the nest:
And here's where the logs all ended up eventually, stacked up in an easy-to-access location so we can convert them to firewood as needed over the winter:
Finally, here's a few videos we recorded over the year. First, three wild boar on the trail camera:
Then an owl, also on the trail camera. Do watch to the end (it's just 1 minute), and you'll see the owl fly away:
And lastly, a comparison of our new electric chainsaw (a Husqvarna 540iXP) with the old one (a 536LiXP). They both use the same batteries, but the new one is much faster and also more efficient, getting more work done on a single charge:
That's all for now, more to follow soon on the coppicing we're doing this autumn/winter.
We took advantage of the sunshine yesterday to go for lunch in the woods with my parents, who were visiting for the day. Although I saw solitary Bluebells a couple of weeks ago, there's a liberal scattering now visible!
The Wood Anemones are also looking good, now at the height of their flowering:
Between them and the Bluebells, the woodland is completely green now!
In the wayleave there are also Violets in flower, to the delight of various insects:
There's a good number of Primroses too - these were near the roadside:
Also scattered amongst the Wood Anemones over in Sweep Wood are Lesser Celandine and an occasional Daffodil:
The butterflies are also out in force now, here's a Small Tortoiseshell:
a Comma:
and a Peacock:
The birds are busy too - we saw some scouting out nesting sites, and the pheasants are strutting around making a lot of noise as usual for the time of year:
The trees all come into leaf at different times - Oak is still some way off, but Hornbeam is coming out now:
Hawthorn is well on the way:
Hazel is just starting:
and in the warmer spots in Sweep Wood there are even some Sweet Chestnut leaves appearing, but in most parts of the woods they are not started yet:
Here's a view of an area we coppiced in 2010/11, with ground cover growing like crazy:
And here's the area we cut in autumn 2013 - we spotted a few butterflies making the best of the new sunlight in this area already!
Finally, Tracy had her class visit the woods this week, so their dens/shelters are now in a better state of repair:
One group even got as far as making some miniature clay pots for the den's 'kitchen'!
We're looking forward to some more sunny days so we can spend time in the woods, now the wet weather has passed...
The woodland is looking amazing now, with the Spring flowers finally showing themselves. We had several friends come and visit us in the woods on the bank holiday, so a charcoal top up was needed for BBQ cooking - this time we made a short video showing how this simple method of making charcoal in a kiln works, using an oil drum and a smaller barrel:
We had plenty of time to see the displays of flowers. In the darker parts of the wood there are still mostly Wood Anemones, though with some Bluebells mixed in:
There's the first signs of shade as well, now that the leaves are appearing on the trees:
The sunnier parts of the wood are looking good with Bluebells, especially over in Sweep Wood:
The coppice is growing quickly again there as well:
What's particularly interesting there is that there are a lot of Violets, which weren't in evidence there a few years ago, so I guess that's a positive result from cutting the ride:
As usual the wayleave is full of wildlife again...
And finally... this year we are hoping that we'll actually get some fruit, as the bees should be out at the same time as the blossom, unlike last year...
