Woodland Trees
Thames Barges, carved into oak - by Martin Brockman for a commission in Faversham
14 Sept 2023
Dan and Emily are back from their holiday so I get to talk with them about the funding bid being put together for the proposed new boardwalk. I also corner Jake to request a source of suitable coppice material to build 4 more leaky dams. I had thought 102 of these was enough for one wood, but a visiting Icelandic teachers’ group have asked for a session of dam building in mid October.
Jake suggests the perfect source of coppice wood and I set off to check it out. Inevitably I bump into other interesting people, pausing to chat with Martin Brockman. Martin shows me his finished wood carving work from last week (see 6th September 2023).
More of Martin’s wood carving
In search of a woodland story I spot a forest school group led by Julie, busy doing The Hokey Cokey (It seems they might be treading on thin ice, since some folk think it is an antipapist song from the 18th Century. However, I can reveal that it was actually written in 1940 as a song to keep up the spirits during wartime - the show can go on!).
The song finished the children descend upon the fire circle where a pot of foraged blackberries and apples is stewing in a big iron pot over an open fire. I'm less keen on blackberries in late summer, when flies have had ample time to lay eggs next to the ripening fruit. Once in Snowdonia I picked a few bags full, only to discover the next stage of the life cycle (grubs) had got in before me. Still, once cooked who is going to know - other than the cook of course.
Isn’t it great that young children can experience the charm and inspiration of woodland when the pressures of modern life often bans them to a corner of the house with just a rectangular screen for company.
Near the big swing, Mike is now putting the finishing touches to the fence he started a couple of weeks earlier. And a very nice job it is too.
A traditional Sussex Fence, built using chestnut logs split lengthways
The ends of the fence rails (tenon) slot into the mortice made in the fence post
Beyond Underoak camp I find Jake's suggested coppice materials. Two or three years of growth is ideal for my needs. He is about to harvest the sweet chestnut coppice, since this strip of trees adjacent to the path is earmarked for biennial pruning. This ride widening will allow space for butterflies, moths and other flying insects to perform their courtship flight, prior to mating (and then laying their eggs in my blackberries!).
The chestnut coppice regrowth earmarked for my leaky dams
The thicker bases of the coppice poles make ideal stakes for my leaky dams, whilst the thinner, flexible upper parts are perfect for weaving the hurdles for the 'woven beauty' versions of the dams.
A ‘woven beauty’ leaky dam - stakes made from fat coppice poles, ‘weavers’ from thin pole ends
It is at this point that I realise that the reader may find it useful if I explain about tree growth and coppicing.
Trees, like most non-woody plants, grow vertically upward from their tips, towards the sun (phototropism) and against gravity (negative geotropism). Roots tend to do the opposite. There is a limit to how tall a plant can grow before its stem can no-longer support its weight. Woody plants, including trees, have evolved to address this problem by adding woody tissue around their stems (trunks).
Every year new wood is added by cell division just below the tree's bark. This area of living tissue is called the cambium. You can see the layers of annual woody growth and determine the age of the tree by counting the growth rings. This now dead (but nonetheless very strong) wood, which makes up the majority of the trunk, enables a tree to grow much taller than it otherwise might. This strong 'timber' is an ideal product, harvested for use by the building trade.
Standard Trees
A standard ‘lollipop’ tree at Under-oak Camp
These are your 'typical' trees, growing with a single woody trunk and with side branches coming off it - your standard 'lollipop' tree.
Coppicing
A tree whose trunk is cut when young will be stimulated to sprout fresh growth from the area of the cut at its base – usually several small branches, each of which becomes a new tree trunk with side branches off it. These clusters of long, thin trunks are called 'poles' which grow from the severed trunk known as a coppice 'stool'. Coppiced poles are harvested on a cycle of anything from 5 to 15 years depending upon their intended purpose. Chestnut is the commonest coppiced tree species at Wilderness Wood. Today they are coppiced for a similar purpose to what they would have been over the last several centuries – for fire wood, but also for round poles for building work.
Close to Underoak camp are some massive coppice stools belonging to chestnut trees that have undergone coppicing for several centuries. The stools are big enough to squeeze several people on top of them.
The author imprisoned in a coppice stool
Close to the area earmarked by Jake as part of his ride-widening project I come across a recently planted beech tree. In a well managed woodland felled trees are replaced by new ones, although squirrels and jays are very good at doing this job for free.
A young beech tree protected by a plastic tree guard to prevent deer browsing
In areas of high deer numbers tree guards are needed to stop the deer browsing the young trees. The guards also encourage vertical growth and offer protection against the elements, but they are an ugly (if necessary) addition to the wood.
Satisfied that I will have the requisite materials for leaky dam building I decide to check-out an area cleared of invasive rhododendron scrub last winter. Rhododendron ponticum is an unwanted plant in British woodlands because it suppresses growth of woodland flowers and young trees. It casts a perennial deep shade, preventing woodland flowers from getting essential light in the early spring months before the trees grow their leaves.
One plant of Rhododendron ponticum can produce enough seed for thousands of new ones
I seek out the 'mother-load', which has been supplying seed for its prospective offspring to invade from all over the wood. I am delighted to find only a small amount remaining, but even this will need to be removed over the coming months, otherwise we will be back to square one when it flowers next spring.
Returning to base I come across a most unusual fungus. This is the Stinkhorn, easily identifiable from the stink it produces to attract flies and its remarkable erect fruiting body. It erupts during the autumnal wet months from an 'egg' in the soil. Within a few hours it grows several centimetres in length bearing a dark 'glebal mass' of spores which visiting flies spread on its behalf. Don't you just love the intricate web of interactions that have evolved through nature?
A stinkhorn erupts from the forest floor and attracts flies to spread its spores
I'll look to spend more time examining fungi at Wilderness Wood in future blogs.
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