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Our chestnut and oak wood before coppicing chestnuts haven't been coppiced for about 40 years |
Soon after buying our 8.6 acre piece of ancient woodland we arranged to meet a forestry commission officer there to get advice on how to manage the wood and to arrange for a felling licence. I also spent a day at Prickly Nut Wood with Ben Law to learn about how he manages his woodland for coppicing. Our woodland is overstood (overgrown) chestnut coppice and large oak standards with little growth in the understory due to the lack of light. The forestry officer recommended thinning the oaks to let in more light and coppicing a small area of the chestnuts each year.
After coppicing an area of sweet chestnuts. We have put up a rabbit fence to prevent damage to the new chestnut shoots and to see what other seedlings grow when the area is not grazed by the rabbits. |
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Sweet chestnut logs from the coppicing drying for fuel or |
A chestnut stool after coppicing, we are waiting with keen interest to see how many shoots appear from the stump. |
| Green woodworking workshop in Glebe Wood (Essex) with Robin Fawcett; link. |
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