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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46052 Location: yes
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gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8792 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 22 8:43 am Post subject: |
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There is too much talked about by too many people who haven't got the faintest idea what they are talking about imo.
Knepp has its points but even they run part of it on 'normal' lines as apart from the visitor side of it, they can't make it run commercially. I don't agree with vast fields covered in weed killer and other chemicals, but there is a happy medium. In the woodland industry we have a saying 'a wood that pays is a wood that stays'.
I don't know too much about farming, but the fields round our woods now have an unploughed strip round them which is a great advantage as we don't get so much run off into the woods. The borders used to have a lot of things like goosegrass and nettles, but think that is decreasing as the barrier absorbs most of that sort of thing now.
From the woodland point of view, we have mainly semi-natural ancient woodland, and some plantation on ancient woodland sites (ASNW and PAWS respectively). We are trying to increase the number of species and age range in the PAWS by thinning and opening up a few glades for natural regeneration. In one glade we currently have a good range of native species, not all of them usable as timber, but several trees that will grow on, and another is slowly redeveloping with other tree species. The areas of hazel coppice that we have brought back from semi-derelict are very good habitat as there is a range of species, and for the first couple of years after cutting there are loads of woodland flowers. This attracts all sorts of insects, of which butterflies are the easiest to spot, but also bumble bees and hornets. These in their turn attract bats, birds and small mammals that also eat flowers, berries and nuts. We have a healthy population of dormice which are breeding each year, and some interesting birds.
I had a discussion on rewilding with a 'green' fanatic, who looked knowingly at me when I told him about the work we did in the wood. We have one area we haven't touched, and this is dark, damp and probably ideal for nesting, but hopeless for food. It is slowly opening up after nearly 20 years of our ownership and possibly 40 years after the event that caused it (the 87 or 90 storms), but that is too long for wildlife to exist without food.
Anyway an interesting subject and interested to hear other peoples views. |
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46052 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46052 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46052 Location: yes
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Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9782 Location: Devon, uk
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 4618 Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 22 8:14 am Post subject: |
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I agree with what all of you are saying. Our wood has been managed for centuries. We think it is at least 1000 years old as woodland, but before that, in the Bronze Age, it was fields, as the field systems are still under the wood. Some time between then and Saxon times, it became rewooded, but we have no idea when.
By the 19th century it was hazel coppice in the north and hazel with standards in the south; we still have the remains of that but it wasn't managed for over 50 years. We have restored some of the coppice by the simple expedient of taking out or thinning the tall trees. We find that once we deer fence, we get natural regeneration of hazel and various other species including oak, ash, field maple and several others.
It worries me too that productive farm land that could be run on a sustainable basis is being taken out of production to grow trees; often the wrong ones and planted, or allowed to 'rewild' when it would be better used for food growing. It also worries me that some special habitats like heathland, downland etc might be 'rewilded' and destroyed. We have a good example of what happens to downland near us. Part of one hill has yew and whitebeam woodland on it and underneath there is virtually just chalk scree rather than downland turf rich in flora species. |
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gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8792 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
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gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8792 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46052 Location: yes
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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Ty Gwyn
Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 4603 Location: Lampeter
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