Weekend 15th/16th October

Spent part of Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the hill in the coppice. I was own my own for most of it so didn't get as much done as I'd hoped (I was joined for a few hours on Sunday by Jim whose wife was sewing with Gilly in Bream); nevertheless got a fair bit of bracken and bramble cleared. I also put some tarps over the wood stacks in the Charcoal Camp for the winter.



















Whilst pulling the bracken we found a pleasing amount of Hazel saplings doing OK, despite the monster bracken cover shading them out. Sadly, most of the ash saplings had succumbed to the lack of light. Some replanting will be needed...

On a positive note, I have been intensively 'weeding' a small patch just below top orchard for a little over a year now and it is really showing positive signs of how you can beat the bracken: there is a healthy amount of grass and a covering of foxgloves coming up.

Found a few saps that I didn't know were there including what I think is a lime tree or Gilly thinks it could be a Sallow, What do you think?:



















During the November work camp, if I get an hour of two, I might try and remove the bracken I have pulled and burn it in the charcoal camp so to expose as much of the coppice floor as possible to encourage other woodland plants, other than bracken, to grow.

Coppice Boundary - How stock proof is the coppice?

Below is a summary of the current condition of the boundary around the coppice. We need to make the woodland stock proof to ensure no unwanted grazers get in and wreck it. Below is a summary of the boundaries starting at the northern boundary:

• Northern boundary - This is the southern boundary of Top Orchard which is a laid hedge that is currently stock proof: sheep and horse are often in the orchard and have not escaped yet!

• Eastern boundary - This is split in to two stretches:

1. Northern stretch - This runs the length of Coup B and is part of the 'Great Wall' which needs no work to make it stock proof.
2. The Southern Stretch divides Coup D from the Industrial area and is current partly a very dilapidated dry stone wall and partly unfenced. Below is a rough sketch of what is what:

We will need to rebuild the wall and decide to either extend this wall to fill the gaps or plant a hedgerow instead. I think a wall would be best as there is a lot of tree cover and a hedge might not do well. As there are no immediate plans to graze animals in the Industrial area or the new orchard this not an urgent job. Also the north end will need a small person sized gate for the path that runs down form the Charcoal camp to the industrial area.

The Western boundary - This consists of the boundary with Square field and triangle field. I need to survey this stretch as it is a mix of dry stone wall, hedge and post and rail fence. To improve access to the Charcoal camp a field gate (i.e. one big enough to allow a LandRover/horse and cart through) will be installed in bottom south-east corner of Triangle field.

What to do next?

• Map and measure area of coppice to establish coups
  

• Start coppicing this winter (2011/12) - Coup A, especially corner where triangle field meets the top orchard, in need of coppicing before limbs get too big.

• Continue renovating the coppice by:

1. Lifting the crowns of the standard trees (I.e. chopping off the lower branches of some of the oaks) to let light down to woodland floor
2. Planting new trees in gaps
3. Reducing the bracken in the woods during it's growing season (roughly May to September) by pulling and removing so light gets to woodland floor and encourages other species to grow

• Start a coppice cycle to produce enough wood for:

1. one charcoal heap per year for Living History
2. on going projects, e.g. new and repairs to wattle, bean sticks for the garden, etc.

My ideas for the Coppice at Grayhill

This Blog is being used, by James biddlecombe, as a space to put forward ideas for the running and development of the Woodland (coppice) area of the Grayhill site, Wales. This encompasses ideas for the Charcoal makers site and living history display as well as proposals for the management of the coppice wood.

It does not reflect the 'policy' of 'Grayhill' or any other individuals, just my ideas for other Grayhill volunteers to look at and comment on.

What area are we looking at?

Below is a rough map showing the woodland area of the Grayhill site that we are looking to help develop into a working coppice, I have added an initial rough idea of how the woodland might be divided up into coupes:

(Click images for larger view)