The coppicing experiment

During the winter of 2010-11, I started a long-term experiment in coppicing. This meant cutting all the overstood sweet chestnut from a patch of woodland near us, with a view to using the new growth for heating in about seven years time. Some young chestnut will be layered and others will, no doubt be taken for fencing by Her Outdoors.

Although each tree was carefully cut at an angle to shed water, then stacked for burning during the winter of 2012-13, the effect when I'd finished was dramatic. Here's the photo from February 11th 2011:


Some of our chickens were killed by an unknown predator early last year, which gave us the chance to transplant a few healthy ash saplings to add a bit of variety, but otherwise we left the area completely alone. And this is what it looks like today:


If a millionth of a millionth of the life seen in this image was discovered on another planet in our solar system, it would be heralded as the discovery of the millennium and radically change the way our species sees itself. But this is what we have, literally in our own back yard. To be honest, having been completely responsible for the first photo, it's a bit of a relief.

More on this, much later.