Woodland Management

[Sandpit Farm]

Does anybody recommend a good Woodland Management course? Alternatively, advice would be gratefully received.

This isn't really for any gain other than my own personal enjoyment. My house sits right in an acre of woodland and I'm not convinced I manage it properly for the benefit of nature. I chop up fallen timbers and stack them so they are tidy, allowing them to decay for beetles etc. I only strim out paths to keep the whole wood accessible. I pull out self set saplings but leave some where they have grown somewhere convenient. The woodland is mainly horsechestnut, sycamore, ash and beech. There are some birch, wild cherry, Elder, Alder and a lone pine too.

I need to take the crown out of some trees as I think they are getting too big so I wanted to know the best time to do it to make sure I don't upset the balance (I am thinking late Autumn). I also have a patch where sycamore dominates and it is a pain so I was considering felling some of them and planting and managing some beech and chestnut in their place.

I have loads of bird species but want to make sure I am doing what I can to encourage more. The rarer ones are things like Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Blackcap. Others include Great/Blue/Coal/Longtailed tits, Gold/Bull/Green/Chaf finch, Song thrush, blackbird, nuthatch, GS Woodpecker, Wren, Collared Dove, Robin, Dunnock and rather frustratingly, Jackdaws!! I put up boxes this year and all but one are inhabited. We have produced 2 blue tit fledges and we have a robin, Great Tit and Nuthatch nest still feeding chicks. I'd like to get more birds nesting. I never realised I was such a twitcher! It's my weird new hobby. Blackbirds still my favourite.

 

[ShooTa]

Harper does a good one.
small woods assoc. also does training days.
or get a forestry firm in for a wlak about - might give some basics and give a point of contact for real operations.

chris starrs book on woodland managment is a greeat resource.

 

[Wilksy]

Does anybody recommend a good Woodland Management course? Alternatively, advice would be gratefully received.

This isn't really for any gain other than my own personal enjoyment. My house sits right in an acre of woodland and I'm not convinced I manage it properly for the benefit of nature. I chop up fallen timbers and stack them so they are tidy, allowing them to decay for beetles etc. I only strim out paths to keep the whole wood accessible. I pull out self set saplings but leave some where they have grown somewhere convenient. The woodland is mainly horsechestnut, sycamore, ash and beech. There are some birch, wild cherry, Elder, Alder and a lone pine too.

I need to take the crown out of some trees as I think they are getting too big so I wanted to know the best time to do it to make sure I don't upset the balance (I am thinking late Autumn). I also have a patch where sycamore dominates and it is a pain so I was considering felling some of them and planting and managing some beech and chestnut in their place.

I have loads of bird species but want to make sure I am doing what I can to encourage more. The rarer ones are things like Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Blackcap. Others include Great/Blue/Coal/Longtailed tits, Gold/Bull/Green/Chaf finch, Song thrush, blackbird, nuthatch, GS Woodpecker, Wren, Collared Dove, Robin, Dunnock and rather frustratingly, Jackdaws!! I put up boxes this year and all but one are inhabited. We have produced 2 blue tit fledges and we have a robin, Great Tit and Nuthatch nest still feeding chicks. I'd like to get more birds nesting. I never realised I was such a twitcher! It's my weird new hobby. Blackbirds still my favourite.

Sounds lovely!
controlling the squirrels, magpies and crows would help your existing song birds,
Some birds are territorial so there will be a limit on breeding pairs.
Maybe get your ash checked for dieback

 

[puppet]

If you have that number of birds I would just sit back and enjoy it. One acre will limit the number anyway. Replace dead trees and keep the canopy open. We planted beech in 1993 and they are still only around 15 feet tall.

 

[HolzKopf]

Harper does a good one.
small woods assoc. also does training days.
or get a forestry firm in for a wlak about - might give some basics and give a point of contact for real operations.

chris starrs book on woodland managment is a greeat resource.

as @ShooTa says Joining the Small Woods Association - £40 a year is a good shout for advice and training -
a useful resource

 

[Sandpit Farm]

Thank you all. Great suggestions. I will get onto it. The squirrels are a pain in the ass. The only thing that stopped me shooting a load was that they are breeding. I will shoot a load in the autumn.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I think the maybe the best way to manage it for nature and the environment is basically do nothing, except put the cattle in there for a couple of days a year to beat down the undergrowth, and don't remove dead wood or trees, let them rot in position and die if possible and when they hit the ground, let them rot on the ground. I would agree, control squirrels, crows and magpies.

 

[CopperBeech]

Controlling the tree rats and covids is probably the biggest thing you could do

 

[CopperBeech]

Corvids not Covids

 

[tr250]

Corvids not Covids

Rooky mistake that

 

[Dry Rot]

Not sure I would agree to just leaving it to nature. Won't he just get tall thin trees blocking out the sunlight? Ideally, Nature prefers a mixture, so new growth coming up with some old grannies? Maybe some open areas that could be roughly tilled and seeds tossed out (tail corn and pigs?). Feeding stations for game always attract lots of small birds, but rats too.

I'd prefer a good book I can search through for specific problems. A course has to be designed to cater for all sorts. Cyril Hart was my lecturer at college and I know he wrote at least one good book based on his lectures. And Google is pretty good. Also the specialist groups of course.

Congratulations on encouraging such a wide range of species. I set up a mini assembly line here to produce nest boxes for my own use as I have the tools and I'm surprised at how the birds have increased. It didn't take a lot to do it either with a chop saw and some sarking boards.