Making A Start

Yesterday team members from National Highways joined us here at Foxglove Covert to pollard and coppice some of our willow carr. This was the first day of coppicing this winter, so there was alot to do!

The day begun with pollarding trees along the edge of the woodland, where it meets a net ride. Pollarding trees on both sides of the net ride will encourage birds to fly at the right height to be caught in a mist net so they can be ringed.

As the edge of the woodland starting opening up, the team could get further in to the woodland and make a start on coppicing.

The team worked hard, and with this many branches being cut down, there was lot of material to process! Material like this can be cut and collected into similar sizes and left in piles, proving shelter for insects as it decays slowly.

Thank you to the members of the highways team for your hard work.