Chiltern Woodlands Project News of the Woods No 51 Summer 2015 and Annual Report 2014-2015

Chiltern Woodlands Project A registered charity founded in April 1989. Based in the Chilterns Conservation Board's offices in Chinnor. It works across the Chilterns Natural Area, which includes all the Chilterns AONB. Please see our webpages at www.chilternsaonb.org/woodlands-project

inside Our Vision page 2 Main areas of work page 5 Financial Summary page 11 Chairmans Report page 4 Case Study page 9 News/Coming Events page 12

Yoesden Wood BBOWT purchased Yoesden Wood and Bank to manage this site as a nature reserve following an appeal during the year. The Chiltern Woodlands Project had helped 3 owners of this wood going back over the last 30 years. It had suffered the loss of many of its mature beech in the storms of 1987 and 1990 and other areas of the wood were being heavily grazed before we helped develop a plan to restore it as an important landscape feature in the Radnage valley. The flower rich chalk grassland of the bank is particularly good for butterflies.

The Chilterns Area of Outstanding vision to maintain the uniqueness of the Chilterns in the Natural Beauty (AONB) was face of growing pressures on this part of the country. It 50 designated 50 years ago. It covers has over 500 active volunteers and now manages a dozen 324 square miles of countryside, sites. The Chiltern Society set up the Chiltern Woodlands stretching from the River Thames in Project to continue the work of the earlier southern up through Chiltern Society Small Woodlands Project. and Bedfordshire to 50 Hitchin in . It is one of 38 The Chilterns AONB is densely wooded with AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY AONBs in and , which belong 21% woodland cover and about 60% of these to the same family as National Parks. Its 1965 - 2015 woods are ancient, having been continuously designation as an AONB in 1965 recognised wooded for over 400 years. The famous that the contain some of the beech woods are a key component of the finest landscapes in the country which are Chilterns AONB landscape, changing colour worthy of protection at the highest level. through the seasons. Many of the trees in these woods are considered to be over The Chiltern Society is also 50 years old mature and there is a need to establish the this year. It is a registered charity with next generation of trees to help ensure the several thousand members and with a woods survival.

The Chiltern Woodlands Project is supported by the Chilterns Conservation Board, Buckinghamshire County Council, Three Rivers, Chiltern and Wycombe District Councils, Dacorum Borough Council, the Forestry Commission and the Chiltern Society. Registered in England as a Company Limited by guarantee no. 2357329. Registered charity no. 1002512. Our vision Types of advice given during a typical Our vision is to achieve a cherished and thriving natural woodland resource across the Chilterns and surrounding areas. We promote effective and sympathetic woodland woodland visit may management, so protecting the landscape, conserving nature and promoting a sustainable woodland economy. include:

The Chiltern Woodlands Project's aim is to promote and An assessment of the condition of the trees and encourage the sensitive and sustainable care and woodland management of woodland in the Chilterns. Type of woodland, methods of management and Work is across five linked themes: maintenance of trees Woodland biodiversity - identification of woodland A. Landscape: to protect and enhance the wooded flora & fauna. landscape of the Chilterns. Woodland archaeology - what features are present e.g. sawpits, banks. B. Biodiversity: to maintain and enhance nature in A discussion on aims and objectives for the wood (s) the Chilterns. Tree health and disease issues. C. Economy: to promote a sustainable woodland Pest control - identification of likely problems and economy in the Chilterns; including possible solutions the use of timber and wood fuel. Management / control of invasive or problem species eg laurel. D. Historic to raise awareness and interest in Timber utilisation - what trees are present and how Environment: the history and archaeology of woods they can be used or sold. across the Chilterns Wood fuel supply for own use or sale. E. Community: to increase awareness, Amenity and leisure issues - both public and private understanding, and enjoyment of Landscape issues - how the wood meets local plans Chiltern woodland. and strategies Felling regulations and grants Tree and hedge planting, protection and aftercare Practical management such as weeding, pruning and ride cutting. The Chiltern Woodlands Project offers an advisory service to help bring woods into management, working Contractor contacts or other ways to implement work. in partnership with others including contractors and volunteer groups. In these changing financial times the charity has to charge for its services and seek funding from new sources.

Box woodland on the scarp at Kimble 2 Annual Report 2014-2015 For the period from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015 he Chiltern Woodlands Project has a long record of success since it was set up in 1989 by the TChiltern Society with Countryside Commission and local council support, before there was an AONB team. John Morris has been its lead officer since the start.

The Project, has continued to offer advice and assistance to woodland owners, with a particular focus on small unmanaged and often ancient woodlands in the Chilterns AONB. Hundreds of woodland owners have now been helped and thousands of hectares of woodland managed. The Project has improved awareness and understanding of the special qualities of the famous beech woods, which are a key component of the Chilterns AONB landscape. Our challenge is to find ways of ensuring that woods in the Chilterns are healthy, productive and useful, so they survive as a valuable resource for future generations. The woods are under a variety of threats including pests, tree diseases, neglect, inappropriate development and abuse. In recent years the demand for firewood and wood fuel has increased so prices paid for this material have gone up, which can help towards the costs of woodland work, such as thinning. Felling a diseased old horse chestnut at Little Chalfont

Beech autumn colours in Hobbshill Wood 3 Chairman’s Report

hese are uncertain times financially Chalara, is getting closer to the Chilterns and our work has been in a period of and it is probably just a matter of time Ttransition over the last year as before it starts to have an impact on the applications to the English Woodland Grant area. Ash are one of the most important Scheme administered by the Forestry young trees in the Chilterns and are a Commission came to an end during 2014 to feature of many of the areas affected by be replaced by a new Countryside storm damage and also in hedgerows. Ash Stewardship grant scheme run by defra, with are one of the few native broadleaved trees interim arrangements in 2015. We will have found in the Chilterns that rarely suffer bark to wait and see if these new grants do help stripping by grey squirrels. Perhaps small bring more woods into sustainable leaved lime is one of the trees that we management. Much of the work by John should consider in its place? Morris in the last year has been to arrange practical work to implement the approved Forestry grant We are grateful to the Chilterns Conservation Board, schemes using contractors, volunteer groups or by the Chiltern Society and all our other partners for their woodland owners themselves. continuing support and assistance. Thanks once again to all our active Board of Trustees for their efforts. The demand for our woodland management advisory services remains high. The threat of Ash Dieback, Andrew Ingram June 2015

We provide the Consultancy work The Project was paid consultancy fees by ngage to carry out site visit surveys, take photographs and reports for following services the Wood Fuel Woodland Improvement Grant for Roads, which ngage administered for the Forestry Commission. Woodland Management advice (free first visit) MyForest Woodland Management plans * The Project has been working with the Sylva Foundation Tree and Woodland Surveys and their MyForest website which has useful mapping Woodland ecological and historical tools for woodland management plans and to generate assessments sub compartment records. The site also has directories of local contractors and wood using businesses. Woodland Grant applications See http://sylva.org.uk/myforest/ Felling licence applications to the Forestry Commission Deer management Identifying and marking trees for felling Deer numbers are increasing across the Chilterns and Finding and supervising contractors increased browsing has an impact on natural regeneration of young trees and also wild flowers. Efforts Training, Events, Conferences, Talks & are being made to control deer numbers and the Project Guided walks is working with the Forestry Commission and the Deer Initiative www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/ to measure the *Long term woodland management plans – the new impact of deer on the woodlands. The Forestry Countryside Stewardship grant introduced in 2015 currently Commission offers a management plan grant of £1000 towards the cost have grant of preparing the plan, for woods over 3 ha. (More grant for aided deer woods totalling over 50ha). These plans, once approved by exclosure the Forestry Commission, may lead to other grants and plots in some felling consent for a ten year period. These plans are linked woods for this to the UK Forestry Standard see www.forestry.gov.uk/ukfs purpose.

www.gov.uk/government/collections/countryside- Young fallow stewardship-woodland-capital-grants-2015 deer

4 The main areas of work in the last year included:

Woodland advisory work in 2014/15 District Number Area In FC plan Practical of owners (ha) or licence work 57 owners were visited in the last year to offer advice visited arranged and assistance. They own 661.8 ha of woodland (1635 acres) with an average area 11.6ha. However of the 57 Chiltern 25 319.6 14 12 owners visited only 8 owned more than 20ha. Only 2 sites Wycombe 16 155.3 10 8 were more than 50 ha, they are Common Wood managed South Bucks 2 12.3 1 1 by the Penn & Tylers Green Residents Society and South Oxon 5 44.8 3 2 Hockeridge and Pancake Woods owned by the Royal Three Rivers 1 11.5 1 0 Forestry Society, both these larger woods were to involve Dacorum 6 71.4 volunteer groups. The Project has always given priority to 3 3 helping small unmanaged and relatively uneconomic 2 46.9 1 1 ancient woodlands of high landscape and wildlife value within the Chilterns. Total 57 661.8 33 27

Woodlands - area in hectares

100 This graph shows the size of the 57 owners' woodland holdings, in order of first visit.

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60

40

20

0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 Consultancy Wilton Park, Beaconsfield 1.3ha carried out survey of a possible ancient woodland with report for South Bucks District Council as part of the planning process for the redevelopment of this area.

Steve Roberts using his mobile sawmill to convert a storm Volunteer work party in the Chiltern Society's Bottom Wood damaged oak into useful timber www.chilternsociety.org.uk/bottomwood/visit.php

5 Examples of practical work arranged included:

Hockeridge & Pancake Woods These two woods are owned by the Royal Forestry Society and cover 74ha between and . John Morris helped with a couple of events to involve the local community in the woodland and organised three volunteer workparties in partnership with the Chiltern Society to open up an overgrown ride so that heather and other wildlife can thrive and replanted a felled pine plantation. John has chaired the Oxon/ Bucks division of the RFS during the year and has been asked to be a member of the steering group for Hockeridge and Pancake Woods. www.rfs.org.uk/about/our-woods/hockeridge-and- pancake-wood/ Hockeridge Wood tree planting

Chiltern Society volunteer team tree planting in the Royal Forestry Society’s Hockeridge Wood

Boxmoor Trust Carried out a survey of over 3 miles of hedges to work out priorities for future management. Many of these hedges were planted around the year 2000 and are now in need of attention, such as the removal of tree guards. The programme of hedge laying and trimming also need to be increased. A good healthy hedge should be thickest and widest at its base, trimmed into an A shape.

A planted hedge in need of attention

6 Examples of practical work arranged included:

Hobbshill Wood John Morris selected and marked poorer trees in this 8.9ha wood for thinning. Contractors Pete Leybourne and Derek Fletcher carried out a thinning of marked poorer trees, mainly beech and sycamore, for firewood and cleared some holly. Pete Whipp and the Ridgeway Woodlands team replanted 3 small clearings within this woodland at Great Missenden under the English Woodland Grant Scheme. Chainsaw felling

Poorer beech felled for firewood in Hobbshill Wood

Chantry Wood Walkwood Organised the removal of dense laurel undergrowth by Continued the work in this wood for Beaconsfield Town Pete Whipp, Ridgeway Woodlands, from this small 2.3ha Council, thinning out deteriorating and storm damaged wood at Chalfont St Peter with a Woodland Improvement trees for firewood, helped by Kav Ring, Buryhook Grant from the Forestry Commission. Countryside Management. They also felled deteriorating old poplars and thinned out other trees for the Council at One Tree Meadow nearby.

Clearing laurel in Chantry Wood Mini-forwarder extracting firewood in Walkwood

7 Other Activities

Woodland archaeology workshops

The Project ran another two well attended woodland archaeology workshops at Pigotts Wood in March and used GPS to record the location of features in the wood. This works better before the trees come into leaf.

The Chilterns Commons Project This Heritage Lottery supported project ends in the summer of 2015. Many of the commons in the Chilterns have become wooded in the last century after grazing ceased allowing trees to regenerate from seed. We have helped a number of owners with woodland management plans for their wooded commons. Plotting features with GPS in Pigotts Wood

Tree identification workshops Fully booked tree identification workshops led by John Morris were held for both the Box Project and Commons Project, based in the classroom at the Forestry Commission's Wendover Woods. We hope to run more of these training sessions in future.

Winter tree identification course

Chilterns Woodland Conference The Project organised this well attended summer event with morning talks in Russells Water Village Hall with an afternoon visit to see Andrew Ingram's woods and Christmas trees at Greenfield Farm.

Woodland conference visit, discussing Christmas trees Chilterns Box Project Volunteers recorded and researched the distribution and woodwind musical instruments, rulers, nit combs, lace uses of box (Buxus sempervirens) in the Chilterns. Box is a bobbins, printers engraving blocks and skittles. This very long lived and potentially valuable evergreen timber lottery supported project led by Sarah Wright ended in tree that thrives on steep chalk hillsides. Uses include the summer of 2015. John was on the steering group.

Box Project study visit to Shirburn Hill 8 Goddards & Fingest Woods - A case study

The Project helped two neighbouring privately owned woods, mainly beech, covering 4.7ha & 10.7ha.

This is an example of work over the last three years where the Chiltern Woodlands Project drew up new long term woodland management plans in 2013 for both owners and then organised work using a number of local businesses.

We used the Forestry Commission £1,000 planning grant Digger creating a new track to obtain felling consent and further grants under the English Woodland Grant Scheme (which has now closed). We then applied for 60% funding through the Wood Fuel WIG to improve the access on this chalk hillside for both owners so that timber and firewood could be harvested.

Once the track works had been completed by Adam Clissold the trees to be felled were selected and marked by John Morris. Steve Mackrory from Nettlebed Sawmills organised the felling of dying Corsican pines and beech for firewood in early 2015, which was sold on an agreed measure. In total from these woods nearly 100m 3 of pine and 300m 3 of beech firewood was extracted. Forwarder stacking logs for collection

Chainsaw felling to thin out poorer beech in Fingest Wood 9 Goddards & Fingest Woods - A case study

After thinning - Fingest Wood Pete Whipp and his team from Ridgeway Woodlands shelters and also put in 4 deer exclosure plots across the replanted areas in Goddards Wood with 400 trees two woods to monitor the impact of deer on the ground including small leaved lime, wild cherry and hazel in tree vegetation and natural regeneration. More work is planned in coming years.

Replanting in Goddards Wood (above and below) A deer exclosure cage

Goddards Wood

Selected fell dying beech Thin young Remove broadleaves sickly pines

Developing broadleaves

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Sub compartment map

10 Board of Directors Financial Summary

Andrew Ingram - Chairman Payroll services were provided by Danton Partners Ltd of Adrian Lepper - Company Secretary Aylesbury Howard Pool - Hon Treasurer Howard Pool carried out the book keeping role on a David Harris - Chiltern Society (Vice Chairman) voluntary basis. Cherry Aston Annual accounts are prepared this year by Fiona Bowers. Richard Pushman - Buckinghamshire County Council Copies of these accounts will be available from the office Paul Mason - Chiltern Society on request. Heather Barrett-Mold - Chilterns Conservation Board Julie Burton - Chiltern District Council Income This year 2014/15 Last year 2013/14 Susan Howkins Total Income £ 51,545 £ 55,262 The AGM to approve the accounts and elect the Board for the coming year will be held on 5th October in Chinnor. Expenditure Total Staff Expenditure £ 55,182 £ 58,307 John Morris, Director Deficit on year £ 3,637 £ 3,045 We are most grateful for the continuing support of the Chilterns Conservation Board, who provide the project with office accommodation in Chinnor. Book sales continue to generate income of £878 last year. The Cultural Heritage of Chilterns Woods – an Officers from key partners are members of the steering illustrated guide to archaeological features written by group and attend the Board meetings. Our thanks to Steve John Morris and published by the Chiltern Woodlands Rodrick Chief Officer Chilterns Conservation Board who Project sold 30 copies last year. retired at the end of 2014, Richard Pearce of the Forestry Commission and David Stowe of Chiltern District Council Special Trees and Woods of the Chilterns was written who attended these meetings for their help. by volunteers. Edited by Rachel Sanderson and produced thanks to the efforts of Marie Hanson, an MA graduate Information sheets can be downloaded from our from Brookes University. The Special Trees and website www.chilternsaonb.org/woodlands-project Woods book sold 60 copies last year. and includes newly prepared advice – “Landmark trees of the Chilterns – a guide to tree planting” , see Both books can be ordered direct from the Project or bought from the Chilternsaonb website. www.chilternsaonb.org/uploads/files/AboutTheChilterns www.chilternsaonb.org/shop.html /Woodlands/Guide_to_tree_planting.pdf

A Giant redwood destroyed by a lightning strike, this is a very rare event! 11 News Coming Events Chilterns unt CONSERVATION BOARD Co rysid e an S d Fo und od ay Festival 13t h S from ep tem 10am to 4pm ber 2015 at the National Trust Ashridge Estate Bridgewater Monument, Near Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 1LT Adults £4, children £1. Entry fees r the pro ove duc also apply to National Trust c e, c is r a f members D ts a Free parking nd in the meadow Masses to see and do ind Forestry Business Support visit to HG Matthews brickworks to us for all the family tries consider the use of locally sourced wood as a fuel. Here Jim For more information phone: linked with our Matthews describes how burning wood chips heats water to 01442 851 227 or 07788 49 11 40 local countryside dry bricks via heat exchangers. Wood fired bricks The Chiltern Woodlands Project is working with HG Chiltern Matthews Brickworks at Bellingdon near Chesham. They are now a major buyer of conifers for wood chip to Woodlands produce heat to dry bricks in their 8 Renewable Heat Conference Incentive (RHI) boilers. They also use hardwood logs to fire traditional bricks in the only major wood fired kiln Featuring research into the in the country. This produces bricks that can be used to biology and impact of Glis glis blend in with the colours and glazes of older buildings. with Roger Trout. www.hgmatthews.com/ This website also gives Ashley Green information about the wood stoves they install. Memorial Hall To be held on Friday 9th October to include an afternoon site visit to the Royal Forestry Society's Hockeridge Woods. Please contact the Project for booking information

Photos © John Morris, Chiltern Woodlands Project, unless stated otherwise Chiltern Woodlands Project partners:

CONSERVATION BOARD Wood chip store We care for the Chilterns

Woodland creation – Brick Forest supported by H.G. Matthews Jim Matthews is keen to support financially the planting of new native broadleaved woodlands in the Chilterns which can be used for educational visits and to ensure Chiltern Woodlands Project the sustainability of their wood fuel operation. These The Lodge, 90 Station Road Chinnor new woods are likely to be between 0.5 and 2ha is size Oxon OX39 4HA and not be supported by other funding or grant schemes. Please contact the Chiltern Woodlands Project Tel: 01844 355503 for more details and to discuss ideas. Email: [email protected] www.chilternsaonb.org/woodlands-project New LEADER funding coming soon to the Chilterns! 4 It is expected to be open for applications from September. For more information on these grants Find the Chiltern Woodlands Project on facebook please see www.leader-programme.org.uk/ facebook.com/chilternwoodlands