Haymaking at Last!

The weather has been absolutely dreadful this summer. After a cold spring and a boiling hot June, when the hay was not ready, we had a rainy July and August. Waiting for a window of five days of dry weather was frustrating.

In the end we got a short window of dry weather. We elected to cut in the rain, partly because the ground was extremely wet, and we knew it would take a couple of days to dry off anyway. We cut onto the ground, allowed it to dry, moved the rows over and let the ground underneath dry, and then we were away. We got warm dry winds at last to dry the hay, and managed to get 187 bales made and delivered before the rain came again.

Here is a little video of our efforts.

Alvecote Wood Magazine

I have recently started up a magazine about our woods. Entitled “Woodland Beauty” it contains a lot of photographs and articles about our woods, and also about photography. It is available as a free ebook from the iTunes store (a search for Alvecote Wood will find it if you want to download to iPhone), and also via Blurb as an ePub for Kindle and other devices. If you are interested, please take a look!

Kingfisher in Betty’s Wood

Kingfisher

I’ve only ever had sight of a kingfisher as a brief flash of blue. Today, we set out for a gentle amble. I was not expecting to take any bird photos, and took a different lens for my camera to try out. We reached the bottom of Betty’s Wood and sat on the bench, when a flash of blue caught Stephen’s eye. A kingfisher! The first ever sighting at our woods, and a wonderful sight to behold. It stayed for almost one hour, feeding on three of our ponds and in the ditch. It seemed to be feeding on larvae or possibly small newts – difficult to tell at a distance.

So I apologise for a VERY bad picture. This is a 100% crop from a totally unsuitable lens. But it proves that if you build it, they will come. One of the best days ever in Betty’s Wood!

Merry Christmas

To all our friends and followers, we wish you a very Happy Christmas, and a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

The ‘Trees in Between’ Can Help Empower Communities.

A very thoughtful piece from Pip about trees and their importance to communities.

europeantrees

We now all live in the most tumultuous of times since WWII. The very scary move far right in England and the US hides, but is also an effect of, a plethora of other problems in virtually all economic, environmental and social issues in all landscapes.

All these issues are interconnected by one very strong hub – your home. And as we all struggle with the direction our politicians and media have taken us it is inevitable we turn to our immeadiate surroundings, our community for security.

And of course this means we rediscover or notice for the first time the real beauty of our place.

However for far too many of us the political has changed the beauty of our place, leaving scars that are far too deep to ever heal:

 

Photographs by Brian Mosley, Sheffield.

Discussing identity and where you belong has started to gather momentum, but…

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In Praise of Restraint – Autumn in the Woods

Gentle yellows and greens of oak woodland in Autumn

Gentle yellows and greens of oak woodland in Autumn

Dew on the woodland floor on an autumn morning

I keep going on about Autumn, but I make no apology for it.  It is my favourite time of year.  The spring flowers are magical, and the Summer meadows glorious, but there is nothing quite like the fungal smell of autumn in the woods.  What I particularly like is how oak trees don’t “shout” about autumn like many other species.  Maple and cherry have been particularly loud this year – flaming orange and yellow, and stunning reds lighting up the trees along the roadside.  Almost all the trees in the ancient part of our woods are oak, which takes a more restrained approach.

Some are still quite green right now, others have a gentle yellow tinge, and others simply go brown at the edges and fall.  Against this restrained backdrop, the yellow of field maple, willow and hazel, and the shocking reds of spindle, cherry and some rowan leaves, as well as a gentle pinks and purples of elder can stand out.  Betty’s wood in particular with its greater variety of young saplings shines out in orange, red and yellow against the darkness of the old oak trees.  Oak provides a pastel and gentle canvas against which the other species can stand out.

Yellows in Betty’s Wood standing out against the green oak and ash

Cherry leaves turn orange red in Betty’s Wood

On the forest floor, things are changing too.  It hasn’t been very wet this year and the fungi are yet to get going, but we have seen some amazing hyphae on one of our fallen logs.

Fungal hyphae form a net on a fallen log.

The lichens are also coming into their own, forming a miniature forest with the various species of moss, topped off by the fallen leaves covered in dew in the early morning.  The grass also shines with dew, giving the woods an autumnal feel, and a softness that is missing at other times of the year.

Dew on a fallen oak leaf on a bed of lichen and moss

A tiny forest of moss and lichen

The leaves are gently falling now and autumn is in full swing.  There is no sadness – nature is beautiful all year round.  Winter is round the corner, and with it the milky low sunshine and stark beauty and form of our lovely trees.  The turn of the seasons is something I really treasure.  For now, I will enjoy the restrained beauty of an oak woodland in the fall.

 

Farming Today

BBC Radio Four Farming Today at Alvecote Wood

It has been too long since I updated this blog – and too many other things have got in the way.  But last weekend we were invited to take part in the BBC Radio Four Farming Today programme feature all about woodlands and forests.

The presenters and producers were extremely nice people.  They visited the woods, along with the Chairman of the Royal Forestry Society, and we recorded the whole programme from the woods, including links to other segments recorded on other days.

We were keen to point out the multiple uses to which woodland can be put, as well as its value for wildlife, and the importance of management.  Leaving it alone generally results in one or two species becoming dominant.  In order to maintain a variety of habitats, particularly in smaller woodland that has been affected by human activity in the past, you need to do some management.

The programme is available as a podcast and on iPlayer if you live in the UK.

Alvecote Wood on Farming Today.

A Summer in the Meadows

Our meadows have been absolutely beautiful this summer.  I have been putting together a video of our meadows over the course of the summer, right up to haymaking last weekend.

A Tour Around the Woods

Our woods are probably at their most beautiful during the spring. This week we welcomed the Royal Forestry Society here on a visit, and I filmed some video as we went round, adding some stills and a commentary afterwards. This really gives you a feel for the woods and their wildlife. It lasts about 11 minutes, but in reality it takes about an hour to walk round.

A Day with the Tree Surgeons

The first tree showing the weak area

Yesterday, we had Mike Daniels and his team from Arborcare, come to the woods to deal with two large oaks. Both of these needed to be pollarded for safety. It was a privilege to spend the day with these lovely guys, watching them at work.

The first tree had a branch fall off leaving a large scar a few years ago. This was healing, until it was seriously eroded by hornets, leaving a very unstable situation with a heavy branch on a weak base. The other branch of the tree had a crack (not easily visible). Both branches were overhanging a path used by visitors, so something had to be done. The aim was to preserve the tree and the habitat, but make it safer.

The second tree was again, very hollow and weak, and overhanging a path. We tried moving the path but it didn’t work out, so the tree needed reducing. This second tree may not survive, but it will remain as standing dead wood and fantastic hollow habitat for birds.

None of the brash was wasted: most of the holly brash from our coppicing, together with all the brash from this pollarding work was chipped to surface our paths. The rest was left as habitat piles.

Brash chipping going on the path

I am totally in awe of people who can do this wonderful work. The photos show some of the process and the skill involved.

Our thanks to Mike, Paul, and John from Arborcare, and to Keith, who turned up to help us. We were all working flat out all day – I was helping to cut up the branches cut down and stack the logs and brash, and the others were chipping the massive pile of brash and delivering it to our paths.

A wonderful day.

At work high above the ground

Removing a branch

Removing the top of the tree

A new pollarded oak

Climbing the sound tree next to the weak one that will be pollarded

Swinging across

Phew!

Cutting more branches

Gradually cutting back

All done, and Mike lets himself down on the rope