We have updates regarding craft sessions at Heartwood HQ, an update about our work with Stirling University, Derby University Internship update and more.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
March Wood fuel Sessions
March wood fuel sessions go live to all members to book onto Wednesday 1st February at 6pm. As always, if a session is full and you would like to attend, please add yourself to the waiting list. While this doesn't guarantee you'll get a space it does give us an indication of demand.
As always, if you are booked onto a session or are on the waiting list and can no longer attend please book off as this could allow another member the opportunity to attend a session.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
Heartwood HQ
Thank you to everyone who helped us make reindeer, snowmen and stars at HQ at the end of last year, we were selling these in several places, and they really proved popular this year. Overall, we sold 85 reindeer, 76 snowmen and 11 stars, sales totalled £1,273. A great achievement for us and feedback on them was amazing so well done again.
During January at HQ we have started making charcoal. Our friends from Albert Village Allotments joined us to work through designs for solitary bee homes. This is a project we will be working on once designs have been tried and agreed upon.
We made bird nest boxes which will be placed in the woodlands we have thinned this season at Foxley and Edwards by the end of February. This is part of the grant work we carry out and helps directly with club income. There will also be opportunities to make nest and bat boxes to take home later in the spring.
For those who have attended sessions at HQ you will know the bench area can limit the space we have, so a few members looked at designing and building more with some on site materials and planks donated to us. They look great and were used for making nest boxes as soon as they were finished.
There are always lots of maintenance tasks at HQ for anyone who just wants to potter, help keep the place tidy and improve some of the facilities.
It’s a great place to meet other members and spend quality time in the woods without the hard work and noise of normal wood fuel sessions (although sometimes we may have a chainsaw going to help with charcoal wood processing.)
On Saturday 25th February in addition to the usual activities, David Gravett will be carrying out a session on chainsaw skills. This will cover chainsaw use at home and advice about tool maintenance, PPE, and safety. This session is aimed at members who don't have a chainsaw certificate.
We always have the kettle on over the fire and provide bacon/sausage rolls for a £2 donation.
Join us by booking on just like the woodfuel sessions.
Chris Adams - Heartwood HQ Chair
Stirling University Work
Over the last couple of weeks a small team has been working on a number of woods carrying out thinning in test areas specified by the team at Stirling University. At each site there are three 20 metre Diameter areas selected - one area is thinned and the trees that are felled are left in situ along with all of the brash. The second area is thinned but all of the timber and brash is removed. The final circle is a control.
We have carried out the work in Pick’s Triangle, Marbury Wood, Bagworth Heath, Whitwick Quarry, Nether Hall Wood and Bawdon Lodge Farm.
The team at the Uni will now monitor the ecological impact of the various thinning approaches.
If you would like to read more about the project please see their web site - restreco.com
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Derby University Internship
Some of you will have met Chris Winson either at HQ or a Woodfuel session. He is working with us to look at the benefits to us as individuals of taking part in the activities of the group.
His work is now coming to a conclusion and is highlighting some fascinating aspects of well being and nature connectedness.
Chris will be presenting his finding to the committee in a couple of weeks, before we arrange an “all members” zoom meeting probably in late Feb/early March where everyone will have the opportunity to share that information and ask questions. Here are just a few uses of the report we envisage:
- Future grant applications will have sound scientific data to support the well-being aspects often included in the grant criteria
- It should provide good strong information to support any HQ sessions we choose to offer both inside and outside of the group
- It fully supports our CIC status and proves at least one aspect of what we are about for community engagement
- It should provide sound information for us to use strategically helping shape the group in the future.
When the invite goes out please put it in your diary and try to join. We all know what we get out of the group, but the scientific evidence certainly opened my eyes.
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Grant Update
It’s the time of year when grant admin becomes important. We are in the throws of completing the work we committed to in both Foxley and Edwards Wood. The operations team have carefully guided us through the season so far to ensure our effort has been in the right areas of the woods to make sure we complete grant work. In both Foxley and Edwards the felling and ride edge work is virtually complete. We now have nest/bat boxes to instal and the standing deadwood and veteranisation of trees to complete - we are planning to bring these tasks into the sessions in February so we can claim our grant funds before the deadline of the end of February.
In parallel we are already planning next seasons grant application, in fact our bid went in on the 28th January, a few days ahead of the end of January cut-off. Again we are hoping to be accepted for grants for both Foxley and Edwards Wood. The grant application requires a considerable amount of work, so I’d like to thank Graham Bowers for the Operations input (plans, maps, woodland area to be worked) and Robin Barber for pulling together the training requirements. Assuming we complete this season’s work and we are accepted for next season I will provide an update in next month’s newsletter to outline the financial benefit we get from National Forest Woodland Management Grants.
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Woodfuel Session Timings
Our sessions have grown over time and the effort involved in making them happen has risen proportionately. With up to 30 people on sessions and potentially as many boots to fill, co-ordinating the sessions is a challenge for the leader and key roles. The way we now work in chainsaw led teams is physically challenging for everyone (there are few super humans, but they are exceptions), so by early afternoon we have all put a great deal of effort in. One point we must all be aware of is that the advertised end time of sessions is 4.00pm, this is to ensure we can manage the session to conclusion with the multiple factors that can affect end time. We usually manage to get all boots filled and everyone away ahead of this time, mainly due to the increase in efficiency and in the way we work.
At the end of the session we try to ensure nobody is standing around getting cold whilst also ensuring that the ATV driver and leader are not left loading the final run and the tool and sign collection. Please support the lead and the team clear the site and get everything back to the cars/vans at the end of the session.
As you will know we always continue felling beyond the demand on the day to provide a starter volume for the next session - without this we struggle to fill the car boots in session times. This is managed by the lead. An example to put things into perspective - the session at Foxley (26/01/23) had 29 attendees requiring 26 boot loads. That took 17 trailer loads, two of which had been cross cut, loaded and delivered to the loading area before the session brief at 9.45.
Session start times are also important. The brief must start on time, so if you are going to be late for whatever reason please let us know. Re-planning teams just before the brief can be an issue, especially when First Aid cover is compromised.
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair