Why traditional woodland management is important for nature, vital for keeping heritage skills alive, and brilliant for our well-being.
Many people living in and around Peterborough and Stamford will be familiar with the National Nature Reserve at Castor Hanglands, between Helpston and Ailsworth, with its varied habitats of ancient woodland, heathland, scrub and ponds. John Clare, Helpston's 'Peasant Poet', spoke in his poems of his journeys through Ailsworth Heath and the woodlands nearby. As you follow in his footsteps today, you may not realise, however, that this corner of our area contains the site of a local scheme to restore traditional woodland management utilising historic skills and practices that were once common across all old woodlands.
Nene Coppicing and Crafts has for the past nine years had an agreement with the reserve’s managers, Natural England, to restore the ancient practice of hazel coppice rotation in part of the woods. Traditionally, the multi-stemmed hazel was grown in dense plots or ‘coupes’ and then cut down to near ground level every seven years or so.
Cutting occurred on a rotation so that each year one coupe was ready to be ‘coppiced’ or harvested. The hazel rods could then be used for bean poles, stakes and binders for fencing, to make hurdles (the traditional woven fencing panels), or many other products.
At the Hanglands, we are now ready to coppice our first coupe, which was cleared and restocked some eight years ago. Over the winter months, we plan to cut back the hazel and sort it for use in making products we can sell. Any waste wood can be then burned in our charcoal kilns to make high-grade charcoal for sale.
All the proceeds are used to support the group’s activities. We can also use the hazel as the raw material for the woodland crafts we are relearning. We can turn the roundwood on a pole-lathe or shape wood with a drawknife on the shave horse, both traditional methods of wood working used by the ‘bodgers’.
Once a coupe has been cleared, the sun can reach the woodland floor, and the woodland flowers which have lain dormant for many years can regenerate in the cleared space. The process of coppicing thus benefits the biodiversity of flora and fauna in the woodland.
Why not come and join us?
We meet at the Hanglands every Thursday morning.
Although physical work is involved, it can be adapted to what most people can manage, and there is guidance on how to use the tools. During these weekly sessions, you will be...
• Learning about the traditional ways our forebears managed the woodland.
• Picking up the skills of working with green wood to make useful products.
• Helping ancient woodland regenerate to improve its natural diversity.
• Spending many a happy hour working with a friendly group of like-minded folk and sharing our tea and coffee breaks round the fire!
•Simply enjoying the quietness of the wonderful woodland location.
Interested? Contact us at nenecoppicingandcrafts@gmail.com or via the Contact page.
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