There's a lorra, lorra trees

West belt thinning

Cord wood piles building up 

Day set fair for some continued thinning in the West belt and already the difference in space and light noticeable for areas worked on. The new growth of beech and ash coming through also quite evident. In the main the practice of close planting of new trees to promote straighter trunk growth can be seen and of course this is one of the reasons for thinning out the trees to allow the best to mature with sufficient space. For the broadleaf woods like this under Mike's care such woodland management is a lot of work and even with contractors working on the 'mixed' plantations on the Sherborne estate coverage of the 60+ wooded areas is nigh impossible with available resources and priorities. Generally a 20-30 year cycle for harvesting the ash, sycamore and conifers is the norm. But there is also the required removal of damaged {storm, squirrels, desease} trees to add to this and normal thinning.

Generally Mike fells the selected trees away from the ride/pathway which means less work to tidy the 'brash/canopy' and usually the stacking of the heavier cord wood is easier for me! However such was the density of trees that quite a few had to be felled over the ride and my workload increased as well as my vigilance lest any walkers were approaching. Surprisingly no walkers or wildlife were around all day. Sometimes the felling of selected trees proceeds quite smoothly but today a number 'resisted' and quite a bit of clearance of shrub/smaller trees was needed as well {see top picture}. So for example  a particularly large sycamore needed the tree lever, wedge and our combined efforts before it could be persuaded to fall safely to earth.

Lunchtime was to be spent at Sherborne brook where I hoped to spot a reported new bird Mike had been informed about. I only had chance to observe the usual suspects before I beat a hasty retreat back to the estate offices as the heavens opened with a heavy downpour which included hailstones. Fortunately the afternoon was fine for continued work in the West belt albeit with a good deal of additional standing water! Doesn't look like a visit to the water meadows will be a good idea for a while.