Chestnut Coppice – The Alternatives
by Margaret, 9 January, 2009, 21 comments
Coppicing is one way of protecting the biodiversity of ancient woodland. Each winter, an acre or so of the woodland is felled, and in the spring a glorious carpet of flowers erupts from what seemed to be barren ground. The next year, too, the flowers may appear, and with them some butterflies and bumble bees enjoying the nectar and the sunshine. But the sunshine also brings out the brambles and bracken and, by the following year, these will have shaded out the flowers. Later in the cycle, the re-grown coppice also shades out the bracken and bramble and the ground returns to its apparently barren condition. So, in order to have flowers and encourage bees and butterflies you need to coppice successive acres each winter, progressively moving over the ground year by year. But, it’s hard work coppicing. Is there an alternative? Read more...
