I know – your correspondent is showing his age!
Teamwork!
The weather was overcast but dry, and there was a good turn out to help Steve Joul thin the trees in the Hospice Woodland. We also took the opportunity to pick up litter from the grass verge of Stairfoot Lane – and gathered three large bags, including an old laptop.
Teamwork!
Turning to the lumberjacking, a mature woodland tree needs about 10 metres between it and its neighbours to thrive. The trees in the Hospice Woodland were planted perhaps three metres apart or even less and they are now growing into each other and competing for light.
Steve demonstrated how to cut down a tree using a bow saw and told us what to do with the trunks and off-cuttings and we then set to.
We probably removed about thirty trees which were growing into or overshadowed by other trees and there is no doubt that the trees which we left looked a lot happier – in the sense that they clearly had about five metres space around them in which to grow.
That’s the way you do it!
A lot more work needs to be done to complete the job, but we will not be felling any more trees until the Autumn or next Spring, because we are now entering the nesting season (great tits have been investigating the nest box in our garden!).
Thank you to everyone – including Alan who brought us two bags of rubbish from Stairfoot Lane and David who rose from his sickbed to come and entertain us!
Friends of Adel Woods 