I am trying to readjust the balance of ground cover in a small woodland setting within a garden by planting native species that I have seen growing locally, English bluebells, wood anemone and wild garlic.   It is late Autumn and the ground is currently covered in brambles, bindweed, nettles, dock and other unwanted plants. It will be quite a job to clear it manually. I have already planted some ferns in the area, which seem to be thriving in the dappled light of the waterside setting and are shading out some unwanted plant growth but not much. I have also cut back lots of the larger brambles and tall nettles at the edges of the area to let in more light. Read more...

It is not unusual for owners to allow others to use their woodlands; community groups, scouts, guides, local schools and so on all benefit from spending time in woodlands up and down the country.   Less common is for a charity to use a woodland for pre-deployment training. Jon Mackeen, vice-chairman of DART international UK, a charity based near to the woodland in question, takes up the story: "DART International is a registered UK charity that provides teams of experienced volunteer arborists (tree surgeons) to support worldwide disaster relief operations by removing obstructive trees and enabling other aid and rescue services to operate safely and effectively Read more...

The worst thing about cutting logs with a chainsaw is all the bending down and picking up, stacking and generally time spent not actually cutting. Richard Bowness and Steve Tonkin have solved the problem - they make a sawhorse with a set of ingenious "cups" that space out branches for cutting and holding the cut logs. There is a hinge so that the cut logs can then be tipped into a wheelbarrow. "Actually," explains Steve, "the name 'truncator' was suggested by our patent agent but it describes well what this device does - helps to cut up trunks and also truncates the task. We make the cups out of recycled plastic from old car batteries: this sort of plastic is particularly strong and doesn't splinter if it gets caught by a chainsaw." Read more...

Compared to conventional petrol-driven chainsaws the electric versions have great advantages - they are lighter, don't give off fumes and are much quieter.  This top-of-the-range electric chainsaw is made by Stihl with the catchy name MSA160 and has a 12 inch blade. Stihl also makes it with a 14 inch blade (the MSA200).  The batteries are 36 volt, Lithium-Ion and give up to 45 minutes of cutting time so they are useful but not yet capable of doing heavy professional forestry work. Andrew Peskell, product executive at Stihl UK, explains: "These are ideal for small clearing jobs, cutting logs or even hedge-laying. Cordless electric saws have been very popular with wood carvers as they value the low-profile chain which allows a good progressive cut.  These cordless saws are also very well balanced." Read more...

After a long break, construction of our summerhouse has now resumed. The reciprocal frame structure described in the previous blog now carries a ‘green’ roof and is fully weatherproof. The first step in creating the green roof was to lay a deck of timber planks across the top of the rafters. The underside of these planks is left exposed to form the building’s ceiling. Fixing these planks to the frame was not as easy as it sounds; the geometry of the overlapping rafters threw up some awkward angles which became increasingly acute. At the very top of the roof, the angles meant that it became impossible to continue the timber right up to the central opening. A thinner, more flexible material was needed - provided, in the end, by some cut-up plastic ringbinders. Read more...

Dead hedges are piles of branches and twigs arranged to form a barrier which are increasingly used as a way to dispose of the material that arises from thinning or clearing operations in woodlands. Tree surgeons call this waste material of saplings and side branches "arisings" whereas foresters tend to call it "lop and top". Using surplus branches in this way is good for wildlife - especially for small mammals and birds - because it gives them somewhere to shelter that is protected from predators and from the wind and rain. It's also good for insects: dead hedges in effect create a linear eco-pile. Recently we at woodlands.co.uk have been using dead hedging as a way of guiding the public to stay on public footpaths and to discourage people from walking across sensitive areas of a woodland. In many situations the dead hedge needs to have gaps left in it for deer paths and for managers and owners to get around the woodland. The idea is that the material in the dead hedge will rot away in ways that are good for ecosystems but this takes quite a few years as the branches are largely off the ground - it is becoming quite common to keep a dead hedge maintained by regularly putting more foliage and saplings on top. When constructing one of these barrier hedges you soon realise just how useful it is to build it very near to where the branches are, as an enormous amount of time and energy can be taken up in moving branches around your woodland. Depending on the site, the alternatives to creating a dead hedge are often unattractive - smelly bonfires, carting material off-site or leaving a forest-floor that is impenetrable by foot. Visiting a heavily used council woodland in Highgate in London recently I saw how effective dead-hedging can be in protecting areas of woodland from being trampled. Circular dead hedges were also being used to protect ponds from dogs - I saw a tightly built pile of cut branches woven between hazel posts which had created a barrier so that the tadpoles survived being persecuted by dogs - in this case labrador-German-wire-haired crossbreed. Dead hedging is also a very useful activity for volunteer groups in woodlands because the activities involved are fairly safe - hand cutting of small diameter branches and arranging these into piles. Such projects have a clear purpose but also a very visible result so volunteers feel they have achieved something useful in building a dead hedge. Brambles that have been cut can also be put on top but often the dead hedge becomes a lattice work which will be colonised by brambles that are very much alive - much depends on how much light there is and whether brambles are already established in that part of the woodland.

Some years ago Julian Evans, a retired professor of forestry and an owner of a small woodland, wrote a book to help new owners of woodlands.  It was called "Badgers, Beeches and Blisters" and has been extremely helpful to hundreds of owners, perhaps thousands.  This book has now been updated and re-written with new sections on emerging issues.  Some of the new material has been written by Will Rolls, author of "The Log Book" particularly chapters on woodfuel and tree diseases.  The new book is called appropriately - "Getting started in your own wood" and is just out and available online for £12.95.  It's easy to read and is a guide to looking after and caring for a small woodland. Read more...

As a new and enthusiastic detectorist I needed to find sites to detect on.  I quickly found out that all the fields and woodlands in the UK belong to someone and you need their authority to detect on their land so I started contacting landowners.  When I asked Woodlands.co.uk if it was possible to have permission to detect in their woods I was surprised and excited to get a reply saying that there was a wood near where I live and that permission would probably be given.  I was overjoyed.  So, one fine morning I met up with Daniel Sharp and his dog - itself a detector of sorts - in the woods where I wanted to do my metal detecting.  After a short tour of the woodlands, Daniel explained the philosophy of www.woodlands.co.uk and the benefts of owning a wood of your own. Read more...