Coppicing

We've made a start at cutting and sorting hazel poles up near the pylon.  This is the third winter of coppicing and we have chosen the area next to the last two coupes (coppiced areas).

We started by removing a big clump of brambles on 28th October.

Then on 8th Nov we got stuck into cutting the hazel and dogwood.  This is the easy bit. 

The harder part is choosing which bits to save as useful poles and stakes and which bits to commit to the dead hedge around the coupe.  Useful poles have to be trimmed of side branches with a billhook.

We shall be working through the winter to clear as big an area as possible.  As the hazel re-grows in each year's coupe, we shall be creating a mosaic of habitats with different characteristics: bare ground, twiggy growth, scrub and mature woodland.  Eventually after seven years, we would hope to come back round to where we started and take a new crop of poles from the same stools (roots).