Coppicing and more major tree works

Last week's tasks saw us at Hammond's Copse, Newdigate, one of three Woodland trust sites we work on.  The job in hand was to coppice a section along the bridleway to keep the path clear, and provide a dead hedge to keep people, dogs and horses out of  a coupe.

Here, one of our volunteers is piling up the cut hazel rods, with all the cut ends facing the same way, to create an even dense dead-hedge.

Here is a close up of a hazel stool.  It was cut flush with the chainsaw, and you might notice the slight blue marks on some of the stems.  This is where the chainsaw is not cut through the wood evenly and suggests, as it was the end of the day, the saw was not quite as sharp as it should have been.

In comparison to this traditional way of managing woodland, the work that is being carried out in Tilgate Park at the moment is much more industrial.  The dam on the main lake at Tilgate is being raised by some 2.5m (!)to provide additional flood storage capacity for Crawley and Gatwick.  The lake will be drained down over the summer, but they are tree-felling now to prevent any disturbance to nesting birds.

I will keep updating the blog about the works as they progress.