There was a good turn out of Friends and it was decided to postpone treeplanting as the ground was so frozen. Instead we decided to work in the Field Maple Belt on the north-west side of the park.
It has been decided to leave a screen of trees on the Park side and to coppice the remainder which will be largely Field Maple. At some stage in the past a large number of the trees have been coppiced and have regrown. However, too many large trees still remain and are preventing successful growth of the underwood.
This strip of woodland has been planted up with a variety of hardwood trees in the past as well as a young hawthorn hedge. Trees include Hazel and Cherry.
Our task today was to hand coppice can be smaller trees and clear the area in preparation for using a chainsaw to coppice most of the other trees leaving a few selected standards probably of Oak and Ash.
It will be interesting to create coppice on this area as it is adjacent to the very old Hornbeam coppice stools in the woodland bordering on the main road.
These Hornbeams are probably the oldest trees on the park and probably pre-date the park itself as coppice woodland would not have been created as part of the original parkland landscape. It was probably woodland that was emparked in the 17th or early 18th century.
There were snow showers on and off all day long.
Although cold working it was sheltered from the biting northerly wind in the wood.
The brash was stacked tidily to leave a clear working area for next time.
Bird and animal list seen on the day:-
Wood Pigeon. Magpie. Sparrowhawk. Flocks of Long-Tailed Tits, Great Tits and Fieldfares. Blackbird, Robin. Grey Squirrel. Muntjac. Fox tracks.
