Vexing vegetation

Came across the Roe Deer on my way up to see the ponies this morning. This is becoming a regular occurrence with the group spending a lot of time up that way and becoming braver by the day; today they barely paid me any notice and quickly returned to browsing.

If you couldn't quite spot them in the picture above I'm sure you will in the image below, it's surprising how camouflaged they are despite their white rumps!

Despite not getting anything I had intended to do finished it was a productive day nevertheless, with the entirety of the day spent tidying up fallen and falling vegetation.

There is still a bit of work yet to do on a large willow that has failed at the base and split in many different directions, with some branches leaning towards and over a nearby path.

Carring out any work on a tree such as this requires patience and is made a lot easier when you can remove most of the weight off the branches using a pole saw before making a cut nearer the base of the tree.

Another, nearby issue requiring attention was the tidying up of a long forgotten brash pile blocking light to the forest floor and preventing new spring growth from emerging. 

After a lot of effort I was able to remove all of the brash, much of which had rotten down and was buried in earth, and create a more suitable deadwood habitat pile nearby.

We may have got to this job just in time as there were a few shoots trying to push their way clear of the brash pile.