After the final months of winter being a bit grey and wet, with rain making a ground conditions difficult for work, Spring finally arrives.
Hedgelaying regrowth has reasuringly appeared and although by no means competition standard, the length cut gives me some ideas for reworking and reujuvenating the hedge along the roadside over the next couple of years.
Coppice regrowth has begun in a small area selectively felled (this has been done to vary the age and height profile of a relatively uniform young woodland, as well to create sustainable multiple trunk stems to rework several years later.
And a week later...
There are around 530 birch trees on the plot, mainly planted in a single row around the track edges.
Some are leaning due to the general wind direction.
I've started to coppice around every fithth tree (repeating on an approximate 5 year cycle), again to create multiple stems as regrowth.
On a long 'to do' list is making birch sap wine and birch sap syrup.
Footpath edge habitat enhancement (preparations) are ongoing. This is to make the Public Footpath more obvious and usuable throughout the year.
The increased width gives greater scope for varied vegetation margins and benefits for wildlife biodiversity.
Ash Die Back finally discovered by visual inspection. Classic symptoms and confirmed with dialogue and a sample sent to Forest Research as part of their monitoring scheme.
