Small Woodland Owners’ Group Newsletter March 2017

Sylva’s Future Forest Making money from kindling Grey squirrels: the options SNuebw tis tle

SWOG meetings We have several meetings arranged around the country. Unless otherwise stated they are free. Email [email protected] for more details.

8 April Rogley , Cranbook, Kent 10 am –3pm Jim Smith-Wright, Ancient Woodland Restoration Project Officer of the Woodland Trust will lead a walk around Rogley and discuss the management and restoration of planting on ancient woodland sites (PAWS). It is a free event and lunch will be provided, but places are limited, so please email [email protected] to reserve your place.

13 May horse-logging, High Stoop, County Durham 10.30am –3pm number of caravans. e Brown Horse Karen Moon is the owner of a unique piece of Hotel/Pub is close by, either for refreshments or woodland on a windy hill on the edge of the accommodation. If you would like to attend this North Pennines AONB, and about 14 miles free event, please email [email protected] west of Durham. Her nine acres were formerly owned by the local council and used partly as a picnic site. It is a mixed woodland, with , 20 May Perivale Wood, Greenford, London and rowan interspersed among a lot of e Selbourne Society, managers of Perivale conifer. Karen has organized a horse-logging Wood in north-west London, have kindly demonstration in her wood on 13 May. e day agreed to host a meeting at their 11-acre ancient will start at 10.30 am and Charlie the horse oak woodland, www.perivalewood.org.uk . It is logger will be present all day, either thought to be one of the first nature reserves in demonstrating or available with advice and to the country, andd the wood and has been answer questions. managed largely by volunteers for over 40 years. ere is hard standing in the wood for More details of this meeting will follow next parking and space available for a limited month.

Coming up: managing your woodlands for butterflies A series of meetings will be held in conjunction with Butterfly Conservation to discuss managing woodland for butterflies. Butterflies are in decline throughout the UK and woodland owners can make a significant contribution to their survival. 2 July Plattershill Wood, Horsham 30 July Coombewell Wood Lamberhurst Two more meetings are still at the planning stage and we will release the dates as soon as possible.

2 SubN tiewtles

Combat disease – plant new trees species carefully selected as the best replacements for trees which will be lost to e Woodland Trust is urging people across the disease and to strengthen the landscape against UK to help protect the countryside from the other threats. increasing effects of ash dieback and other tree Applicants can choose three species from oak, pests and diseases by applying for one of its new wild cherry, silver , hornbeam and beech. ‘Targeting Tree Disease’ tree packs. e packs also include 1.2m protective tubes Cases of tree disease are on the increase across and stakes and have been subsidised by the the UK and two in particular are currently of Woodland Trust. e charity also offers a wide interest to tree health specialists: sweet variety of other tree schemes to the public. blight and acute oak decline. e Trust is aiming to Sweet chestnut blight was plant 64 million trees by first found in Kent in 2011 2025 and all its trees are where it was dealt with sourced from locations effectively, but a small throughout the UK. number of cases have Small woodland owners recently been confirmed at can buy packs of trees from further sites in Devon, £49.95. To apply for a pack where work is underway to or find out more about the confirm the rate and area of Woodland Trust’s other tree spread. planting schemes visit Acute oak decline has been recorded since woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant before the end of 2006, and research into how the condition March. spreads is ongoing. At present the disease is For more information about tree pests and largely concentrated in central and south-east diseases, visit forestry.gov.uk/pestsanddiseases England. or Observatree and report any potential Ash dieback has now been recorded in over sightings of ill health in trees to the Forestry 1,000 locations and has been confirmed in every Commission via Tree Alert. If you want to learn county across England. more about signs and symptoms, visit the new e ‘Targeting Tree Disease’ tree packs Plant Health Portal which provides advice on contain 45 one to two year old trees from prevention, reporting and analysing the risks.

Royal Forestry Society Excellence in • Duke of Cornwall Resilient Multipurpose Forestry Forestry 2017 East of England • Silviculture e deadline for entries in the Royal Forestry • Small and Farm Woodlands Society Excelllence in Forestry Awards 2017 is • Urban and Community woodlands 7 March. Owners and those those involved in Further information and Entry Forms are inspirational woodland Education and Learning available via the Award links at Projects in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, www.rfs.org.uk/awards or by emailing EiF co- Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, ordinator David Brackley at Rutland, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and [email protected] . Telephone the West Midlands, are invited to compete in David on 01772 451276. four woodland categories: 3 Making your woodland pay: from brash to cash

Christopher for sale. I hastened up there and following a Duncan owns a demonstration and a haggle, I agreed to buy it. 55-acre Last autumn we put a fair amount of dry woodland near rhododendron trash through the machine. After Battle in Sussex. testing the kindling at home we gave a few bags The wood is to some of our log customers for them to try. managed We asked for feedback and also asked them how carefully in line much they would be willing to pay for our with Forestry kindling packs. e feedback was Commission guidelines to improve the health comprehensively positive and suggested prices of the woodland. He tells us about working to fell in a spectrum of £7.50 to £12 per bag. make it pay. Our kindling has been very popular. So much Having purchased our woodland, I set about so that we have all but sold out and there are thinking of ways to make it pay. Its previous still a couple of months of the firewood season owner had prepared and sold logs for firewood to go. so it seemed logical to keep with this activity. Powered by our John Deere tractor’s PTO, After a winter season of log-selling, it occurred the Urban TR70 branch logger is easy to use, to me that we were missing an opportunity to appears to be incredibly strong and tough, sell kindling. All those who had purchased logs requires little by way of maintenance, needs no would need something smaller to get the fire setting up or adjustment, and bags the product going. We were a bit like an artists’ materials automatically all day. shop which sold but not brushes – both It takes material up to 40mm diameter and are required to get the job done, so why not sell chops it into roughly three-inch-long pieces. both? Birch tops, sweet chestnut, coppice, I investigated all the kindling-making , ; thin branches of practically any machines which are available. ey all seemed wood variety can be put through it. Uniquely pricey. Some needed electricity to power them among kindling machines, it turns zero value (we have no supply in the woodland) and nearly woodland / forestry rubbish into a valuable, all appeared to need wood prepared by way of saleable commodity. size or shape in some way, which seemed very Customers who buy from us no longer have labour intensive. to pay inflated prices at the ironmongers or the

Brash to cash en I happened across an advertisement for a machine named a ‘branch logger’. A YouTube video showed the machine taking brash and other such woody trash – the leftovers from felling or extracting trees which we would usually burn to keep the woodland tidy – and bagging it into handy sacks of kindling. It was turning rubbish into cash: the branch logger had my attention! By good fortune a farmer from up near Goudhurst had a used branch logger machine 4 From brash to cash supermarket, and they no longer need to buy firelighters either. Our kindling has been very popular – so much so that we have all but sold out with still a month or so of the firewood season to go. e branch logger is a great machine and is good value, but it was not cheap. While the raw material it processes costs nothing and there is healthy demand for the product it makes, achieving a return on tonnage of mill quality oak next year, and with investment is going to take a while. With this is help from Lorraine Bell and her team at mind, we are quite keen to explore making the Brighton University’s Green Growth Platform machine available to other SWOG members. we are developing a brand new woodfuel product which we hope will, in time, bring in Life at Duncans Wood some serious cash. In addition, I am keen to At Duncans Wood we sell chestnut coppice for learn about biochar production. As charcoal was fencing, gates, and trug making. We prepare and produced in our woodland centuries ago (the sell firewood logs and kindling and we have charcoal platforms can still be seen) it would be seven bee hives producing honey. We will be lovely to get it going again. planting an experimental Manuka tree grove e land owned by Duncans Wood is private later this year which will hopefully increase the and not open to the public. However, such is value of the honey, if the bees take to it! Our the beauty of the woods in spring when large woodland management plan should yield a fair areas are carpeted with wood anemones and bluebells, the company organises supervised visits so that others may enjoy these impressive natural spectacles.

Details about the Urban Branch Logger are available on this website: Urban Kovo .

More information about Duncans Wood can be found on the website wealden-logs .

Contact Christopher direct: [email protected]

5 Grey squirrel control

Grey squirrels are rarely regarded as welcome very high standard with regular grey squirrel visitors to a woodland. Rod Waterfield of the control. eir woodlands are among the best in Woodland Skills Centre in Denbighshire North Wales and they were awarded a gold explains how he has dealt with them, and medal in 2015 in the Royal Forestry Society offers some advice and guidance for owners. Excellence in Forestry Awards, as well as gold medals from the Royal Welsh Agricultural e presence of grey squirrels in woodlands can Society in 2016. have a significant impact on the growth of the In March David Brown will be running a trees, particularly younger trees. e course on controlling grey squirrels using the squirrels strip the bark from young trees in the traps that he has developed. e techniques spring and early summer when the sap is rising ensure a high degree of success and ensure and this prevents the tree from growing humane and legal treatment of the squirrels. e course will run on Saturday 11 March and will be held in Bron Haul woodlands. For further details and booking visit the website www.woodlandkillscentre.uk or phone 01745 710626. e Woodland Skills Centre in north-east Wales is part of Social Enterprise Company Warren Woods Ltd and runs a wide range of courses which might be of interest to SWOG members. e Centre has a 50 acre woodland site in the heart of the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. e Centre also has a heritage orchard, wildflower meadow, properly. If the bark is removed from the whole arboretum, allotments and extensive circumference of the trunk, then the tree will workshops.Visit their wwebsite for more die from above the area that has been damaged. information. A large population of grey squirrels also has an impact on small mammals and birds which they Dealing with squirrels attack and, in areas where there are the native ere are pest controllers all over the country red squirrels, the greys pass on the squirrel pox who can advise woodland owners. Try googling infection – which the greys are resistant to, but ‘grey squirrel control’ to find them. which is lethal to the red squirrels. e UK Squirrel Accord website contains e Woodland Skills Centre in Denbighshire interesting inforamtion about the latest plans has suffered from the impact of grey squirrels in for squirrel contraception, while there is a its woodlands, with an area of 15-year-old oak useful list of links on the European Squirrel and ash completely destroyed where grey Initiative website: squirrels have ring-barked all the so that www.europeansquirrelinitiative.org the leading shoots have died. e Forestry Commission has published a e Centre has asked David Brown, the comprehensive leaflet, which details the owner of the Bron Haul Woodlands south of damage wreaked by grey squirrels and the best Abergele, to run a course in grey squirrel methods of trapping and despatching them: control. David’s woodlands are managed to a http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf

6 Sylva’s Future Forest

Judith gets her wellies muddy helping to plant closely, however, as it turned out that this wasn’t the Grown in Britain grove in Sylva’s Future just a woodland ‘jolly’, but a chilly morning of Forest. hard work. One of the inspiring things about the revival of Britain’s wood culture over the last few years has Future forest or small woodland? been the co-operation between the various In November Sylva launched the Future Forest, agencies and charitable groups involved in the a scheme to plant a three-hectare field with business of woodlands and timber. Professionals mixed species to create a forest for the future. such as the Forestry Commission work hand-in- e Future Forest houses three main groups of hand with of keen, knowledgeable and gifted trees: native broadleaves, natives with new genes amateurs, acknowledging that we are all which have been sourced to match Britain’s working towards the same end: achieving better future climate (warmer and wetter); and exotics management for our existing woodlands and such as tulip trees and Japanese red cedar, which where possible, extending that coverage. may be successful in the future. ere will also e Sylva Foundations is a charity established be coppice plots of hazel, sweet chestnut and to ‘help people and trees grow together’, and robinia, which will produce wood within five works collaboratively with over 40 woodland years. Plots of 25 trees were available to organisations. Working with everyone from purchase and have been sponsored by local schoolchildren to forestry professionals, under businesses, schools and other woodland the leadership of Dr Gabriel Hemery, they are organisations. working to integrate trees and timber more Grown in Britain had sponsored a plot of 250 deeply into everyday life. Many owners will be trees and it transpired that we were there to aware of Sylva’s invaluable MyForest website , plant them. Gabriel Hemery calls it the Future which helps owners to compile management Forest, but I knew the truth – I was helping to plans and map their woods. plant a small woodland. On a dank February So an invitation to the Sylva Centre to view day it seemed like an ambitious project, but in a the new Future Forest, was one that I couldn’t couple of years it will be a wonderful sight, fully refuse. I should have read the small print more justifying the hard work of everyone involved.

7 Blogs and TV Click on the titles to be taken to the full blogs or videos on the Woodlands.co.uk website.

Red squirrels find sanctuary in my wood Peter Trimming purchased his Lakeland wood with the ambition of encouraging red squirrels. He tells us how things have worked out so far.

March Wood, Kent – healing and learning outdoors e March Wood project in Kent is using nature to help young people and families with additional needs and adults with mental health issues. Using the woodland for these can be used to contain oil spills and thus limit programmes is transformational and feedback the environmental damage. from users has been overwhelmingly positive. TV Leaves in winter – marescence Making charcoal with the Exeter retort Why do some broadleaf trees retain their leaves Alan and Jo Waters are expert charcoal makers into winter? Oak and beech trees hang on to with many years experience of this traditional their brown and shrivelled leaves and this is skill from the land they coppice. Here they known as ‘marescence’ speak about the benefits of charcoal production using the Exeter Retort, which harnesses the gases produced in charcoal production for use Sheffield – the battleground for those who elsewhere. It also produces more charcoal of care about trees and woodland better quality. Sheffield is renowned as ‘the Green City’ and is famous for its 36,000 trees. Recently, however, it has been in the headlines because of the draconian actions of the city council in removing thousands of them.

Wood products old and new e by-products of the industry in the USA and Canada, fine floor and , are being put to new use by the oil industry. Chemically modified saw flour

8 Woodfairs and shoSwusb 2 ti0t1l7e e Arb Show www.newforestshow.co.uk 12–14 May 2017 Woodfest Wales Westobirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire 29–30 July 2017 www.trees.org.uk/e-ARB-Show St Asaph, Denbighshire Weird and Wonderful Wood www.woodfestwales.co.uk 13–14 May 2017 South Downs Show Stowmarket, Suffolk 19–20 August 2017 www.weirdandwonderfulwood.co.uk / Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Petersfield, e Bushcraft Show Hampshire 27–29 May 2017 www.southdownsshow.co.uk Beehive Farm, Rosliston, Derbyshire Wilderness Gathering www.thebushcraftshow.co.uk 16–20 August Devon County Show West Knoyle, Wiltshire 18–20 May 2017 www.wildernessgathering.co.uk Clyst St Mary, Exeter, Devon Stock Gaylard Oak Fair www.devoncountyshow.co.uk 26–27 August 2017 Royal Bath & West Show Sturminster Newton, Dorset 31 May – 3 June 2017 www.stockgaylard.com Shepton , Somerset Wychwood Forest Fair www.bathandwest.com 3 September 2017 Weald and Downland Living Museum Show Charlbury, Oxfordshire 17–18 June 2017 www.wychwoodproject.org Chichester, West Sussex Confor Woodland Show www.wealddown.co.uk 7–8 September 2017 Royal Highland Show Longleat, Wiltshire 2–25 June 2017 www.confor.org.uk/about-confor Edinburgh, Scotland http://royalhighlandshow.org Belmont Woodfest & Country Fair 9–10 September 2017 Great Yorkshire Show Faversham, Kent 11–13 July 2017 www.belmont-house.org Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate www.greatyorkshireshow.co.uk Bentley Weald Wood Fair 15–17 September 2017 Royal Welsh Show Lewes, East Sussex 24–27 July 2017 www.bentley.org.uk/woodfair Builth Wells, Wales www.rwas.wales Surrey Hills Wood Fair 30 Sept–1 Oct 2017 New Forest and Hampshire County Show Birtley House, Guildford 25¬–27 July 2017 www.surreyhills.org/events / Brockenhurst, Hampshire 9 in the wood Rich Hare reflects on the best methods of extracting useful timber from a woodland. Read a longer version of this on the SWOG website here . If I look back at the woods I've worked and managed over the last few years a common theme emerges. ey all seemed to have valuable timber in them, timber that desperately needs felling and is often in a really awkward place. Even where it is possible to bring in heavy equipment, one of the biggest considerations, purchased a swing arm portable mill particularly in small woodlands is the impact manufactured in New Zealand by that this would make especially to the woodland Turbosawmill. floor. e advantages are: Hauling out big trees, usually to a static • Portability – it is light enough for two people is costly in terms of both time and to carry. equipment, not to mention the environmental • Power – it can powered by an adapted Stihl impact of this on the woodland, so I began to 120cc . e sprocket is replaced with a investigate different systems that would allow pulley system connected to a fairly standard car me to take the sawmill to the trees. is has lots fan belt which runs a driveshaft to the blade. of advantages especially for the smaller-scale • Easy field serviceability – it is easy to sharpen. operation in small woods where care and • Versatility – it will handle logs anything from precision is much more of a consideration. 6" or so in diameter to large 30 or 40" butts. ere is an assortment of products out there Just over two years after buying the machine, which range from a small jig and guidebar I'm very pleased with how it has performed, adaption of a standard chainsaw, to a full blown though I am continually thinking of ways to trailer mounted band saw with hydraulic lifting improve it. Read a longer version of this on the and turning abilities. ey each have their place, SWOG website here or contact Rich for more but all have their pros and cons. I eventually information: [email protected]

SWOG Course Listings Anyone who buys a wood from Woodlands.co.uk is given £300 towards a woodland course to help towards owners’ enjoyment and knowledge. ese courses can encompass anything from basket-weaving, green or pole lathe turning, to chainsaw tuition and woodland management. Buyers are asked to write a short resumé of their course, noting how effective they found it, and whether they would recommend it to others. View it on the SWOG website here: www.swog.org.uk/courses

10 Green space designation and woodlandS ouwb ntietlres Neighbourhood plans are the buzz words in the how to proceed. ere is no nationally- world of local planning. ey are the means by prescribed process and so it is left to local which a village or small town can assert some planning authorities to decide how to determine sort of control over the future of their any submissions for LGS.’ surroundings, by designating areas of historic or e law is equally imprecise about environmental importance, which must be designation. According to the National taken into account by developers and planners. Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the criteria Designating an existing woodland as a parish for designation are green space ostensibly seems like a good idea, (1) Must be in reasonably close proximity to the which will offer the trees protection against community it serves; development for housing or business, but what (2) be demonstrably special to a local does this actually mean for woodland owners? community and hold local significance, for In the National Planning example beauty; historic Policy Framework, the Coalition significance; recreational value government passed legislation [including as a playing field]; that allowed local communities ‘ tranquility; or richness of its to earmark for special wildlife; and consideration local ‘green space’ (3) be local in character and not land - whether its value is in its an extensive tract of land natural beauty, its historic [para.77 of NPPF] resonances, its recreational value, ere is no mention of its tranquillity or its importance consultation with owners prior as wildlife habitat.’ to designation. But if you are a woodland So while most owners might owner who wants to install a welcome green space shed, for example, will this be allowed? And designation, in practice it might throw another does a parish have the power to designate a layer of bureaucracy in the way of those who piece of private land as a parish green space? want to install a small shed or any other aspect e Open Spaces Society believes that, ‘the of permitted development. National Planning Policy Guidance gives Owners are advised to keep an eye on the inadequate advice on the designation of LGS activities of the parish council local to their [local green spaces]. e definitions of what woodland and to liaise with them over the might constitute LGS are vague. e public is matter of green spaces. We’d be interested to hear left in the air, without any clear guidance on your views or experiences of this.

e Small Woodland Owner’s Group has been Picture credits: Cover: D Gould; p 2 J Millidge; p 3 formed to aid the enjoyment, diversity and Woodland Trust; p 4 –5 C Duncan; p 6 Wikipedia conservation of British woodlands. e Commons; p 7 G Hemery; pp 8, 11 Woodlands; p 10 R Hare. company Woodlands.co.uk sponsors the group, so membership is completely free and events are SWOG website free of charge unless otherwise stated. SWOG is [email protected] open to anyone interested in the management SWOG co-ordinator and newsletter editor or the enjoyment of woodland. [email protected]

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