Coppicing session 6

This Saturday, there were definite signs of spring about. We were back in the coppicing area, but not to coppice trees. With leaf buds forming, its too late in the year to cut hazel. Instead, we're working on dealing with all the material that's been generated over the winter. And there's a lot of it.

We'd already made one length of dead hedge with a solidity and height that made it good for a bench, and since we liked it, we thought we could make another. Three of the crew got to work sharpening hazel into stakes, while another three or four started setting stakes into the ground.

Sharpening and setting stakes for the next length of dead hedge/ bench

We soon found that for these short stakes, a sledgehammer is easier than a post hat - we won't bother carrying the post hat down the hill next session!

Once we had stakes in place we could get on with packing waste into the hedge. We wanted it to be as tight fitting and solid as we could manage, so it wasn't all that quick to fill.

Filling up our new bench/ dead hedge

Although dead hedges like this make excellent benches, that's not really why we're making them. Oxleas is a very busy wood for a SSI - its full of people, of dogs, of toddlers, of cyclists. And any or all of those is a bit large and terrifying to a frog or a mouse, let alone to any of the insects that call the wood their home. So these dead hedges act as fortifications, as homes, as highways for all the small lives in the wood. We want them to be nice and solid, and to give our invertebrates at least a little tactical advantage.

Holly hedging

That applies as well to our holly hedges. We made this one because we had a lot of cut holly material to dispose of where it wont do any harm (rotting holly leaves can stop other plants from growing a little too effectively!). But it will also give any of the small lives a little shelter alongside the busy ride through the middle of the wood.

Next month will be our last session of this season. We'll get as much processed material as we can out of the are and as much waste squared away - fingers crossed!