General outlook


Wurthymp Wood is a 17 acre / 6.9 hectare plot, divested from a mixed woodland 30 acre farmland project planted by others in 2006.

From 2014 it has stood as a stand-alone woodland conservation project in a wider landscape mosaic.
The woodland is privately owned and funded and is run on a break-even sustainable basis, resources are shared with the Meadowcopse Orchard Project a few miles to the north.

The primary objectives are mixed:-
a, Wildlife habitat conservation (trees, grassland and ponds).
b, Rotational coppice woodland management (thinning, regeneration, rural craft materials and firewood).
c, Selective long-term forestry tree management (coppice with selected standard trees left long-term).
d, Community, education & research engagement, (the promotion and understanding of wildlife & sustainable conservation in a wider landscape context).

Wednesday 14 July 2021

July 2021

 With a few farm and land sales and changes in the locality recently, it got me thinking about my own journey and some of the external dynamics of landscape custodianship..

Short rotation coppice energy crops going in the neighbour's fields

Generally, with a bit of prior research, visits to other projects and assessing site suitability, deciding on a conservation or woodland project site is very positive and uplifting.

Sometimes, you come up against some external or contrived challenges...

"So what are you doing with the woodland?"

More precisely it's realistically "What is he going to do with the woodland?"

As a responsible owner / custodian / operator, these days you will be the last to know when other people beyond 'genuinely interested' start getting their teeth into things and interpreting in their own way, what your ownership and activities mean...

A slightly general observation, but something a few folks with their own woodland, permaculture plot, private allotment or wildlife patch encounter.
I used to think random folk were genuinely interested, but something changed with public attitudes - particularly about 15 to 20+ years ago.
Gone are the days on the rural fringe when some passing local character takes time to chat and maybe comment "You're doing a grand job there, Mon." Years of their own knowledge and experience under a weathered exterior.

By the 1990s it's initially morphed into a (probably genuinely interested) "Excuse me, what are you doing?"
Then into "I don't know what he's doing, but is he allowed to do that?"
Reaching a climax in more recent times via Facebook etc. "Does anybody else know what's happening down xyz lane?" Or "Hello, is that the Council, there's someone cutting at trees and hedges in the fields by me..."

It's not just individuals with their own small projects - conservation groups and agricultural colleges and forward thinking rural estates, all doing informed and responsible habitat management, or restoration at what's become someone's favourite dog-walking patch - ending up with 'Dismayed residents anger!' in a local headline or regional evening TV news. 

There are of course two sides - public engagement or prior information from the person managing the habitat helps inform the wider community, versus nearby residents mixing up development fears with little knowledge of responsible conservation and countryside management.

The latter is an interesting dynamic. It's repeated throughout village margins of England and Wales.
Yes, inappropriate and large scale development is a genuine concern - particularly as formal planning controls may seem to be weakening where a large developer comes up against a resource strapped Local Authority (but that's not going to change anytime soon with perceptions of and attitudes to, housing demand type).

On a smaller scale, one has to consider calling 'NiMBY' - Not in MY Back Yard.
From various forums I'm in and direct experiences of other small scale woodland custodians, there is a certain dynamic where folk in relatively new houses next to open fields or woods, get rather twitchy at the thought of possibly newer houses going opposite / behind them. Sorry, unless you are in a National Park or AONB - you've bought a house not a view.
By all means, buy the field behind you if you have concerns - or if more publicly spirited, set up a Trust or CIC for a village wildlife or nature area for the land.
Don't think cutting a gate in your back fence, chucking your grass-clippings and garden waste over, or letting your dog run free gives you a stake over somebody else's land.

On the one hand it's good that folk take an interest and care about their surroundings, but there is a deeper, darker side...
Folk not prepared to fund raise or dip in their own pocket to actively steer a responsible direction for their surrounding area, but upset somebody else is doing something they don't (want to) understand. Worse still, an irrational and emotive sour grapes grudge that somebody else has it and is doing something with it (or if really sensitive to a specific stasis habitat appearing not to be doing anything with it).
Bitterness is quite common, probably keeps solicitors in business, certainly adds to a Planning Officer's inbox, as well as a bit of overtime for a rural Police team, when disagreements over the fence overheat on a Bank Holiday weekend.

mini meadow by the woodland pond

The weirdest 'public relations' encounter I've had, was somebody assume I was on 'Community Service' whilst I was replanting part of my orchard hedge next to a public footpath. They were rather concerned as to whether 'The Landowner' would be happy with what was going on.
Judging by the look they gave me, they were rather surprised to find I was the land owner - the conversation continued with somewhat affected gestures waving towards what I thought was a pretty obvious Traditional Orchard:-
"So what exactly is all this then, are you going to build something here?"
"Erm no, it's a traditional / heritage varieties orchard on marginal farmland that floods..."
"Oh, I suppose you get a grant then for all that, it'll be our money paying for it then!"
"Not really Madam, with a pretty responsible long-term job, everything you see here has been paid for out of my own arse pocket!"

She's not been back with any more questions...

Two other NiMBY cases I've been following elsewhere got a bit formal and definitely hinge around petty aspects of envy that then fester and escalate.

1. A small plot of land gone wild on a village edge next to a detached house comes up on the open market...
A well intentioned purchaser finds a gate has appeared in the side fence, in the time between sale and completion, neighbour states the plot was going to be left to them and they've always had access. Any thoughts of neighbour adverse posession are robustly quashed, but the new acquisition of the plot is on the next month's Parish Council Agenda with local residents 'concerns' - New owner then gets 18 months of Parish Council and Local Authority Planning Department overbearing interest, various legal 'tennis volleys' and after formal representation, a Parish Council Chairman resigns and a Planning Officer moves sideways to a different authority.

2. Two patches of land, large and small - either side of a new road are sold off by a Council at auction...
Larger wooded plot has about 6 houses in a line to one boundary, smaller plot across the road comes up against a hedgeline to other fields.
New owner of wooded plot gets 'challenged' by a resident in one of the houses:-
"Excuse me, what are you doing - this is private land!"
"yes, I know, I completed on it last week."
"I don't think so - we've all clubbed together in these houses and bought it between us!"
"I can assure you that you haven't - I do have a copy of my deeds and plot plan in my van..."

The person representing the line of 6 houses at auction, had bought a plot of land - but unfortunately the smaller plot the other side of the road, not the one they intended behind their houses!
This really started to get ugly over the following weeks...
Local newspaper article "Residents concerns for future of local nature spot"
Minor and more serious vandalism (fencing and vehicle damage).
A push for the Local Authority to impose a tree preservation order - this backfired a little, as the Tree Officer was very sympathetic to remedial and safety related tree work. Local residents were surprised to find the trees with a spray paint dot had an appointment with the chainsaw as part of responsible management - although police and council were called out during workscopes.
The aggreived neighbours had 'concerns for wildlife' - a bit ironic as they had intended to purchase to extend their gardens, arguably a planning 'change of use' consent required and habitat compromised if turned into extensions of domestic gardens.

My own project sites occasionally attract interest - usually when the nearest neighbour is going through the planning process, I get a noticeable increase in folks using the footpath and straying a bit further off course to have a look around...

I still get asked "So what exactly are you doing with the woodland?"
I'm probably more interested in wondering why they are asking, rather than comprehensively explaining.
(I have an info pack, printed or online - it's easier, as explaining "Active Forestry - Traditional coppice and growing trees and enhancing biodiversity." never gets taken seriously as an answer).

A significantly asked question is "Are you going to build here?"
Again I wonder 'why' they ask?

No, I'm not building a house or houses.
Yes, I'm in the middle of building a tractor and wood seasoning shed (Consent granted by the Local Authority back in 2018). But I don't take seriously folk in a line of newish houses (where their neighbours had similar concerns about their houses going up years before), with irrational made-up fears of other new houses and ignorance of rural landscape protections and planning policy conditions.

None of these negative dynamics make anybody feel any better or achieve much, apart from high blood pressure and wasted time and resources...

A slightly weirder question rarely asked to my face (but finding a way back to me from folk in the wider community) is:-
"How did he get that, how can he afford that? How does he make any money?"

The long answer is that in my spare time, I've always done conservation work (and some ad-hoc farm work locally), together with educational courses with various types of groups and conservation sites and it was something I wanted to do from leaving school a long time ago.
Unfortunately the job market in the 1980s was rather challenging. Fortunately leaving school with good science and maths results, I went into science & engineering instead. Despite family directly employed in professional forestry, I was offered a very promising engineering career.
I naïvely thought I could put a bit on one side and buy somewhere to plant up after a while as a project site. (Had the property market not had an upward curve outpacing my savings).
One part of my mainstream job turned out better than expected - a bit 'high risk / high reward' but approx 20 weeks a year off, if I took a particular shift pattern and lived in. A part of conventional life and relationships didn't quite survive and a major health issue created a step change rethink.

A good number of my colleagues had flash cars, fancy houses and 'consumerist' lifestyles - I shunned that (mostly).
Although 4 to 5 times the price per acre than the days I first started saving, the savings converted into investments and giving up on a house move, I made the decision 'now or never' on a 17 acre divested farm young woodland, relatively near home, rather than moving house. (I'd already had a trial run, with an orchard project on marginal land below market rates, together with a 'spare time' conservation degree course at a local agri college - as well as deciding staying with a small modest house on the edge of Chester would actually do me fine).


My main work in north-sea oil & gas was medical / fitness dependent. I knew at some point the time would come when a fortnightly 500 mile round train commute to work out of Aberdeen, helicopter flight 150 miles towards Norway, and a load of challenging work conditions couldn't be justified or sustained. I got another 9 years out of the job whilst making plans and setting the normal affairs of life into a sensible sustainable order (with one medical incident strongly hinting at a prudent 'sooner, rather than later outlook).

So, now self employed and a modest income from sustainable forest products out of the wood gets me by, working hours I choose (particularly around Crohns Disease and other medical complications), surrounded by nature and shaping the future direction of the woodland trees and wildlife for the next 80 to 100 years...

If you've got this far, you'll begin to understand why I don't take people too seriously, when they form opinions without genuine engagement with facts.


If you have conservation ideas and dreams - research you areas of interest and what works, check attitudes in your area, do impact assessments for the chosen site... Enjoy, engage and share what you do as a responsible custodian.



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Work journey for the Defender - mower/collector for meadow management