Talk by David Logan of the Woodland Trust
Hedge Laying Training 20th & 21st January
Swadlincote Woodfuel Sessions
The first Swad woodfuel session managed by Heartwood took place on January 4th at a small piece of woodland just up the lane from the American Diner. There were four Heartwood members working with six volunteers. Swad woodfuel sessions have been ran for a number of years with a joint effort between South Derbyshire District Council (SDDC) and The Conservation Volunteers (TCV). TCV decided to pull back from running the sessions, so we were asked to step in. There is only one further session this winter on the 8th February after which we will be meeting with SDDC to discuss future plans.
At present there are no “cross-over” plans for members of Heartwood and the Swad volunteers, but this will be one of the topics of discussion for future seasons/sessions.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Talk by David Logan of the Woodland Trust
Thank you to everyone who managed to join the Zoom meeting where David Logan of the Woodland Trust took us through his presentation “Why we need to chop trees down”. It was great to have so many members attend the call, showing David that we really do care for the woodlands we work in, not just the firewood. The feedback from David was very positive and the feedback from members who attended was similar.
For those who didn’t manage to make the call, here is a link to the presentation, although without the commentary it doesn’t give justice to the subject and Davids’s knowledge. Let me know if you have any questions though, I’m sure David will still be pleased to answer them.
Why we need to chop down trees
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Coldest Session of the Year?
The session at Donisthorpe Woodland Park on the 11th January was a bitterly cold day. The whole site was engulfed in freezing fog for most of the day. Felling the conifers was a unique experience with showers of ice every time a tree was disturbed or felled. The temperature remained below freezing, so keeping busy was the order of the day and lunch break was very short. The main benefit was frozen ground, so the notoriously muddy extraction route close to the loading bays was frozen, making extraction a great deal easier.
Dave Barker took this very atmospheric photo, but if you have any good photos from our sessions please let me know. We’ve got lots of people with saws and chainsaws, so just the unusual ones please.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Heartwood Works Team
The latest piece of work carried out by the Heartwood Works team was at Rosliston Forestry Centre, where the majority of the work was “crown lifting” trees in the car park. This is to ensure the trees do not touch or damage visitor’s cars, but also to give the trees improved form and structure. A team of 12 volunteers soon made light work of the pruning and felling, but it did create a great deal of brash and small branch material. This was transported to the Hub where it will either be used for charcoal making or burnt in the Kontiki kiln to make Biochar.
If you would like to be part of the “Works” please let me know. We have a Whatsapp group for communication.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Nest Boxes and Surveys
Many of you will recall the results of the nest box survey carried out in Nether Hall Wood a couple of times over recent years. Layla is a new member of the group and is training to be a qualified bird ringer, already having the skills and experience to handle fledglings legally in nest boxes. We have agreed that nest boxes in the woodland around the Hub would be a good idea, along with the boxes we put up annually as part of the grant work at Foxley and the replacement of the old worn-out boxes at Nether Hall.
This should give Layla a good number of boxes to monitor and gives us some great data on the benefits of the work we do in the woods. Anyone who is interested in the surveys please let us know.
We will be making the nest/bat boxes at the TOITW sessions in February and putting them up at Foxley before the end of February so keep an eye out for the sessions. Foxley Nest boxes are usually put up on a Sunday morning session.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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National Forest Way Markers
The team at the National Forest happened to mention the potential supply of way marker posts at one of our sessions towards the end of last year. It seemed like a good opportunity for further income for The Hub, so we agreed to provide 24 as an initial order. The timing meant we collected the posts from the timber merchant just before Christmas so Steve M decided to make painting the tops yellow a little Christmas holiday job. They were delivered to the National Forest team early in January and will be deployed around the forest, so keep an eye out for them.
Small project such as this provide welcome income for the group, so if you see or hear of other opportunities, please let The Hub team know.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Foxley Stonework
The theft of our ground protection mats came as a blow for the sessions we run at Foxley Wood, but true to form the group has pulled together to recover the situation.
Replacing the mats was never really an option due to the logistics, cost and threat of them being stolen again, so this was quickly dismissed. The operations team engaged with the Woodland Trust site managers to work through several options to protect the rides and paths. These included the use of woodchip, the use of stone or to leave the rides unprotected and make good any damage. The Woodland Trust kindly offered to pay for the stone if Heartwood could deploy it, so the operations team got to work calculating the amount and working out a deployment plan.
The culmination of this was a team of 21 Heartwood members meeting at Foxley on a damp morning to shovel, transport and lay stone on 9 ride crossings. With so many hands it became just another job for Heartwood. With a team loading trailers in the car park, drivers taking the stone across site on the ATVs and a remote team unloading, spreading and compacting the stone. Starting at around 9.00am the work was completed by 2.00pm with a few sore backs, but with the objective achieved.
Thanks to the team the site is now ready to host the remaining woodfuel sessions, with the bonus that there are no heavy mats to shift at the end of the sessions. As usual out of adversity a better solution has been arrived at. Thank you to everyone who made it happen.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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The Hub Update
In January, The Hub has focused on tidying up, making charcoal, completing the composting toilet, and processing wood from Woodfuel sessions.
Our TOITW sessions will continue on the 2nd Friday and last Saturday of each month. In February, we plan a Kontiki burn on Friday the 14th (pending enough interest) and will be building nest and bat boxes on Saturday the 22nd.
Feel free to ask about any crafts or come and help out with various tasks. We still have general maintenance and building tasks on our board and need to run the retorts to maintain our charcoal supply.
Chris Adams, Kevin Banton, Dave Barker | Hub Team
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Hedge Laying Training 20th & 21st January
Heartwood Hub now has the beginnings of a traditionally laid Midlands style hedge, thanks to The National Forest for organising, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for providing two days of training, and of course, the budding (it is nearly spring!) trainee hedge layers which included Heartwood members on this, the first of two sets of training sessions organised at our base in the woods. (The next one is to be held again at the Hub in early February.)
Over the two days we were shown how to safely use the tools of the trade and the correct way to traditionally lay a hedge in the “Midlands” style. The hedge which benefitted from our toils is the one that runs along our boundary and “Millers Way” which is predominantly hawthorn, so the sturdy gloves provided were greatly appreciated as was the campfire, hot drinks provided and after all those cups of tea, the Hub’s newly installed and now fully functional composting loo!
Everyone went away tired from our exertions, but also very happy with the result of our endeavours and to have acquired at least some of the basic skills to carry out this fascinating countryside craft.
Now, where did I put my Billhook...?
Dave Barker