Coppicing at Cairn Wood.
Anybody hoping to read an account of traditional coppicing is going to be disappointed. I have small patches of Willow and Hazel in Cairn Wood which I cut to provide wood that can be used and to keep them to a reasonable size. This means removing larger stems and leaving immature stems to grow on.
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S. viminalis rods used in fence,
woven between Hazel stakes. |
There is an area of Willow coppice visible from the parking area looking towards the stream from the entrance gate. This is Salix viminalis which was purchased with the land. Known as Osier or Basket Willow it's withies are used for heavier baskets. I have tried to cut out shoots or rods with a 1" diameter each year these are about 3 years old, and 8-12 foot long. Some I use in dead hedge piles or woven dead fences. A few get used as kindling or for firing the charcoal retort, but most are not used. The Willow was cherry picked so is not the traditional lollipop shaped Osier pollard. The Willow is full of canker and not suitable for fine weaving.
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The Salix viminalis after the larger rods
have been removved. |
The other area with a lot of Willow is at the far end of the Wood where the original Salix triandra was never totally eliminated. A smaller Willow than S. viminalis it a basket willow with several varieties with different coloured stems. This is one of the more common varieties Black Maul. There are also some other varieties which I put in to give me options should the other trees fail. The disease levels mean they could not be usable without spraying. As it grows amongst planted trees in a small neglected area. I shall cut it to favour other trees but retain it to provide shade to timber stems.
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Coppiced Hazel more willow will be thrown
around it to deter browsing. |
There are also two areas of Hazel. One is a small area between the S. viminalis and the stream. The lowest lying part of the wood winter wet and well shaded it does not grow quickly. Originally planted to keep coppice work a possibility I did not have use for it. Fortunately a coppice worker did take it down to the ground a couple of years ago. I think he did take hedging stakes and bean poles which was good. Unfortunately the coppice regrowth has been hammered by the deer. The cutting from the neighbouring willow will be thrown around the new regrowth in the hope it deters the deer.
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The typical mess left by just removing larger
rods one year later cut stems were left to
discourage deer.
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The other bit of hazel was a continuous row separating what is now the track from the wood. Planted before the track was put in but while it was obvious that was where vehicular access would be. It was to form a hedge/barrier that I could keep under control with out paying a hedge cutter. It is nearly half a kilometre long. When the track was put in some sections were removed to make passing places. There were also no squirrels in the field when they were planted. When the Oaks were planted behind them I thought they could shade the Oak trunks when they grew.
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Potential hedging stakes and
bean poles. |
The policy is to remove the larger rods, ones that are going to produce nuts in particular. Rods that might be suitable for making hedging stakes were selected out. Fortunately somebody has taken them, hopefully they can use the bean poles that I also sorted, but less systematically. One reason for taking the larger rods out, is to reduce the nut crop. It is not feasible to remove all the catkin bearing rods but the crop is much reduced. Squirrel numbers have increased since the wood was planted. A supply of acorns and hazel nuts has not helped. Some peanut bird food was put out at the end of February and a trail camera revealed at least 3 squirrels. Trapping caught 5 squirrels in 6 days.I will need to keep trapping if the Oaks are to make timber trees.
