This month we have been working with Dallas from the Ranger Service at Harran Hill Wood in Lochore Meadows. We have been helping to process and fell trees in an area of coppiced woodland. This involves cutting the tree back to ground level at a slight angle to allow new growth and is done in rotation every seven years. Most of the coppiced material from this goes into making woven fences to keep cattle out or into hedge laying. Left over material is burnt in a fire (if and when we can actually get one going that is!!)
Despite getting the van stuck in the mud and being attacked by Black Hawthorns we managed to get one section finished and have begun working on a second section.
We have also been back at Muiravonside clearing fallen trees after the christmas snow. The bad weather led to around 700 tonnes of fallen trees which have to be cut up and removed from paths and access ways. We were pruning 180 year old apple trees in the old victorian walled garden,where the trees have managed to outlive the wall. Seeds from these trees have been catalogued in the national database and each given its own tag. The volunteers we had out were kept extremely busy and there is still plenty of work left over for next time.