It’s such a rainy day I been reading Oliver Rackham’s book about landscape history. Interesting to speculate about what he would think about my woodland creation. Probably he would have been fairly negative about the biodiversity - and said that I would be much better spending my time in the restoration of a coppicing cycle in an ancient woodland rather than trying to create a new woodland. This was illustrated by the story of the woodland planted by monks 750 years ago which still doesn’t have as rich a flora as the adjacent ancient woodland.
Fascinating to read about how human activity has altered all of our environment, with echos of history in the patterns of fields, the hedgerows and woodlands.
Yesterday was Solent pollarding willows in the woodland. The branches are too high to cut with a chain saw, as using a chain saw at head height seems unwise. A hand chain saw is the answer, as the ropes either side of the chain allow us to be 10m from the tree being cut. However, it is a really good upper body workout!
Pollarding creates lots of branches, as well as rotten wood good for insects and holes for nesting.
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