If you fancy a bit of time in the woods then there is the opportunity to run a charcoal burn, check the Heartwood HQ section in the members area of the website if you would like to run a burn.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
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What's In this Woodfueler
Heartwood Hub
Heartwood HQ is changing it’s name. Our woodland centre has become a lot more popular over recent months with lots going on and even more planned. To give the centre it’s own identity we will now be calling it "The Hub".
As mentioned in the membership update item in this newsletter we will soon be launching a specific membership for using the Hub. This doesn’t affect us all as existing members as we have full access to all events in the events calendar, but anyone wishing to join Heartwood without the "woodfuel" aspect will be able to join on slightly different terms. This means the Hub becomes available to anyone wishing to take part in the activities we hold there.
This last month has been a great example of the breadth of events we are now running. Our regular working parties will now be referred to as "time out in the woods" sessions to break away from them being based on "working" and more on the social and skills aspects.
The two sessions in May saw lots of activities including charcoal making (and skills sharing), the big shed tidy is now complete, final extraction of timber from Edwards Wood, lots of charcoal timber processed and stored for seasoning, including a new round-stack emerging and general site tidying.
We welcomed lots of visitors – a corporate team from "The Stone Group" spent the day felling trees, processing timber and making charcoal. A group of home education parents brought their children along for our heritage charcoal package and a lovely group of ladies from Ashby Spa WI joined us to make nest boxes. All of these events managed by Heartwood members earning income for the group.
As always if there are crafts or skills you would like to share or would like to learn please let us know. We try to ensure there is something for everyone at the sessions, but socialising and sharing play a big part as well – time out in the woods!
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Membership
The last few years have seen the group grow and grow to a point that last October we took the decision to create a waiting list for new membership enquiries. This was due to the majority of sessions having waiting lists so any new members would potentially struggle to book onto a session.
Again over the last few years the group has increased the number of activities other than woodland management sessions. Our HQ, now named the Hub, at Heartwood has seen an increase in sessions and activities including charcoal making, nest boxes, green wood working, spoon carving, etc.
Since starting a waiting list for new members we have had a number of enquiries for membership for the craft and social sessions at the Hub. So from the 1st July, we are introducing a new "Social" membership. The new "Social" membership will be the same as our "Woodland" membership apart from social members will not be able to book on to Woodland Management sessions and the range of training opportunities will reflect what would be used on non Woodland Management sessions.
There will be no change to existing memberships other than the name of the subscription. You will still be able to book on to any session, space permitting.
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
email:
Training
First Aid Training is free to all members of Heartwood, and without the first aiders, we can't even pick up a pull saw or add brash to a pile, them's the rules we have to play by them. The course provider that we use is an excellent tutor, and the course covers a range of treatments and injuries.
Training will take place on a choice of dates either Thursday 10th August or Saturday 2nd September. if you are interested then please register for one of the two dates on the booking website. The course will be run locally with a venue yet to be confirmed. If you do have any questions then please drop me an email at
Robin Barber | Training Co-ordinator
email:
Nether Hall Wood
The woodland at Nether Hall has finally dried out a little making access a lot easier. One of the group helping manage the site has been learning the skill of "bird ringing" with Nigel a qualified BTO bird ringer. Layla has been learning for some time, but has this season used the 12 nest boxes we sited last year for a formal nesting bird survey. These were installed by the Hartshorne Scout group and their "what three words" locations recorded last July.
Layla carried out an initial survey of the boxes under the supervision of the expert and found 9 of the boxes in use. Returning a week or so later they carried out the ringing where the chicks were old enough.
These are the numbers:-
- 9 Nest Boxes in use
- 24 baby Blue Tits - 17 Ringed, others too small
- 40 Great Tits- 23 Ringed, others too small
These records are now part of the national record so ringed birds can be tracked if they are ever found. We plan to put up more nest boxes next winter.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email: