Twelve of us turned out to this Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust owned ancient
woodland on a lovely sunny winter’s day. The wind was blowing a gale but
once we got into the woodland, it was nice and sheltered.
There
were 2 jobs to do, so we split into 2 groups. The first group set off into a
newly cleared section of the wood to look for small leaf limes of the right
size to layer into the newly opened area. Our previous attempt at this last
year had been reasonably successful, with over half of the layered trees
sprouting with the potential to start a new coppice stool. (see report from
23 Jan 2011 for more details of layering).
The other group set about widening the ride through the centre of the wood
with some serious tree felling. There had been a group working there the day
before, so it was only a matter of minutes before John had got a nice fire
going on the pile of hot ash. We cut down several of the thinner trees,
which was quite challenging as the tops were shifting several feet in the
strong winds up in the canopy. The thicker stuff we left for the warden and
his chainsaw to tackle on a later date.
By the end of the day, where the sun shone through the trees pretty much all
day, we had opened up the ride and managed to layer 20 trees. All in all an
enjoyable days conservation work.
Julian