Weekend in the Woods 2013

We've spent the last couple of days attending the annual "Weekend in the Woods", organised by the Coppice Association North West, where we were able to learn new woodland craft skills in a beautiful (if slightly damp!) South Lakes woodland near Newby Bridge. This was our second year here, having learnt so much at least years' event. It's a great place to go if you're new to green woodwork and want to learn from experienced woodland crafts people.


The fruits of our labour!

This year Gareth was on the cleft gate hurdle course run by Mike Carswell of Urban Coppice, a Manchester based coppice worker and graduate of the Bill Hogarth MBE Memorial Apprenticeship Trust. Like woven hurdles, gate hurdles were traditionally used to create temporary pens for livestock, with different designs and dimensions depending on the type of livestock as well as regional variations. Having been replaced in their traditional agricultural use by tubular steel gates they are now more commonly used in the garden as gates and fencing, giving a truly rustic look to your cottage garden!

They are usually made from ash, oak or in this case sweet chestnut, which Mike had harvested from one of his woodlands. The aim is to make a strong hurdle which is as light as possible. Much of the strength comes from the cleft wood, split using a froe, which maintains the fibres of the wood along its length. Gareth made two (and a half!) hurdles over the weekend, a third being partially complete pending some tweaking at home!

Maria learnt how to turn bowls on the pole lathe with Peter Wood, a green wood worker based in County Durham. Starting with a sycamore log which is then cleft in two, the basic outer shape of the bowl is roughed out using a carving axe. The piece is then attached to a mandrel (a turned shaft with spikes in the end) and put on the pole lathe, the drive cord being wound around the mandrel. The turning then commences!


The mandrel - used to hold the bowl on the lathe and to drive the piece.

The bowl carving tool is longer than most of our other pole lathe tools which allows you to hollow out the inside of the bowl. After two days of axing and turning (and lots or treadling!) Maria made two bowls which are now slowly seasoning at home. 

In time we hope to add these products to our range, made from wood from our coppicing here in South Yorkshire!

Roding on the railway

Last night we did our first woodcock survey at a local country park as part of a national voluntary survey being coordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Woodcock are the only wading bird in Britain to be adapted to breed in woodland and their range is thought to have declined since the 1968-72 Breeding Atlas (Sharrock 1976). The first national survey was undertaken in 2003 and our survey site is one of the 805 high priority sites, being a repeat survey.

The survey involves spending 75 minutes around dusk at a fixed count point, the number of "roding" male woodcock are recorded during the survey in order to give an estimate of numbers.

Our count point is located on a disused railway viaduct over a small wooded valley connecting the country park to another nature reserve with woodland and heathland (excellent woodcock habitat!). We were treated to some fabulous views of woodcock roding; flying along at tree top height, calling and turning their heads looking for any interested females. Although our males seemed to only be versing the "swick" part of the call last night. Perhaps, like the weather, they've not properly warmed up yet?!

Amphibians: a class act

We spent yesterday evening at Potteric Carr, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's flagship reserve near Doncaster. We were there, as N,E & W Yorkshire ARG volunteers, to deliver amphibian survey training as part of the National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme (NARRS) which started in 2007 with the aim of monitoring widespread amphibians and reptiles across the UK by training and coordinating hundreds of volunteer surveyors.

After working our way through the classroom session, we had a great evening of egg searching, netting and torching, on account of the fact that the ponds at Potteric are simply excellent habitats, particularly for great crested newt. There was even a tasty buffet laid on courtesy of Bev at the Potteric Carr café (highly recommended!).

Thanks to everyone who attended as well as Kat (YWT's Inspiring People Assistant) and of course Bev!

Feeling hot......well, warm(ish)

What a difference a few degrees makes!

At last some spring-like weather to tempt the plants and animals out of hibernation. At this time of year we're usually well into the amphibian survey season but the cold start to 2013 has pressed the pause button on our usually frisky herptiles..... until now.

With professional surveys on hold due to the weather, we've been monitoring a local great crested newt population for the past few weeks, in an effort to detect when activity picks up. After poor results as recently as last Thursday, we were pleasantly surprised last night (Monday) to find dozens of GCN going about the business of mating and egg laying. 

The temporary postponement of amphibian surveys has however made room for some woodland activities. A trip to the coppice coupe at Sprotbrough plantation to collect some sycamore logs allowed us the opportunity to examine the emerging ground flora. In the coupe itself there was plenty of dog's mercury and bluebells (although none yet in flower) and in the northern part of the coupe and the adjacent grazing land a flurry of primroses had made an appearance.


Dog's mercury adjacent to the recently coppiced hazel stool

Primroses brighten up the day

On our way out of the wood we also noticed plenty of lesser celandine enjoying the long awaited sunshine!


The sun is out and so is the celandine!

The sycamore logs we collected will primarily be used for pole-lathe turning. There's a range of products now available at Chirpy including garden products and unique wooden signs, why not drop in and have a look? We've got several other products in the design stages as well, so watch this space!

Turning out nice

We’ve had a busy and productive March so far; including a weekend spent green woodworking in Easingwold on a course run by York Wood Crafts.

Gareth made a very impressive pole lathe and Maria made a three-legged stool using the shave-horse and froe.  We’re hoping to put the pole lathe to good use by turning some lovely new green wood craft products for our good friend Chirpy.  Watch this space! 

We’ve also been busy weaving and made some miniature baskets especially for kiddie’s Easter egg hunts which will shortly be on sale at Chirpy.

The ecology season will soon be back in full swing and so we'll be fitting our wood crafting in between newt surveys.  We're looking forward to getting out and about herptile hunting again!

Thats a rack

It was our last day in the woods at Sprotbrough today, for this winter anyway. We again joined the Don Gorge Conservation Volunteers for a day of tidying up in the coupe. The chaps made an excellent job with the brash fence around the boundary as well as tending to the fire, whilst we concentrated on stacking logs and racking up the smaller roundwood:

We intend to return to the woods later in the summer with a small kiln to turn this rack into BBQ charcoal.

The coupe is looking great after everyone's hard work. Bluebells and dog's mercury are already poking through. Who knows what will spring up as the light reaches this part of the woodland floor after years in the shadow of the trees we've now coppiced? We look forward to visiting later in the spring to find out!

Sap rising!

The past week has seen us getting seriously stuck into some coppicing at Sprotbrough, a SSSI YWT nature reserve near Doncaster. We've certainly put our newly acquired chainsaw skills to work!





"Wildlife treat of the week" was the sight of 3 buzzard soaring on the thermal above our brash bonfire!

We've only got one more day coppicing this season, before the breeding birds get into full swing. The sight of sap pouring from the stumps of our cut sycamores reminding us that spring is just around the corner!