The big challenge with planting grants being turned on/off at the whim of Ministers, is that tree nurseries & planting contractors can’t confidently invest in their businesses.
Nurseries have to plan 4-5 yrs ahead.
If trees aren’t planted they can’t easily be held over to the next year.
I often get asked at this time of year why and how do you continue to fell trees when birds are nesting.
Why… because timber crops and habitats need managing. Some sites are only accessible when it’s dry. Timber processors need fresh supplies. Finance agreements and bills 1/3 🧵
Hammer beam ceiling
Fantastic hammer beam ceiling in the Great Hall of Stirling Castle. The reconstruction used 350 oaks felled in Perthshire, though archaeologists think the original used Scandinavian sourced material, common in the 16th century. Global timber trade as old as time!
Doesn’t quite have the same rhyme…….
Swallows have been with us in Moray for at least a fortnight, already nesting in one of our outbuildings.
More insects about this year than I have seen for a while. As evidenced by the front of the car!
youtu.be/A6qnPB6TSYo?...
Some of the Beech looked as though they were on fire today.
I always look forward to seeing the Davidia out in May. Ideal light today to pick out the “handkerchiefs”.
Also works for Poplar.
I’ve retired my faithful 63 plate, DC Toyota Hilux and replaced it with a younger model. So this one is up for sale. It’s been an excellent truck and I’m sure would still serve someone well. 240k miles, but always well serviced and maintained. MOT till Aug 25. £5000 + VAT.
A few decades ago some skilled people felled this area and restocked it with conifer, whilst allowing a bit of broadleaf to carry on around the edges and in odd pockets. Now we're reaping the benefit; timber, wildlife everything we want.
Just listen - 1st 30 secs before some berk starts talking 🙄
We need greater diversity in our UK forests - more diversity in age, species and in silviculture.
To do that we need to be planting more forests on better soils, lower down the hill.
Limiting commercial forestry to the poorest soils, limits what we can plant & how we manage it.
Across Europe we need to be growing a wider variety of forestry crops on a wider variety of soils.
It’s not simply less Spruce, it’s more of everything else.
We also need to be having discussions about peatlands in a rapidly warming climate.
www.thejournal.ie/michael-heal...
A growing woodland 30 years after planting. Wild pear, blackthorn and wild cherry in blossom. Small-leaved lime, whitebeam and field maple leafing. Hybrid larch towering.
Makes me feel a little old (!), but great to see a woodland I designed and planted 30 years ago really coming into its own. Wild pear, blackthorn and wild cherry in blossom. Small-leaved lime, whitebeam and field maple leafing. Hybrid larch towering. #forestry #woodland #trees #landscape
How many springs might they have seen......
Lots to unpick here and demonstrates how tree felling is regulated by both Local Govt planning & tree officers using TPO’s and FC using Felling Licences.
If we want better tree protection then we need better funding for more professionals in both organisations www.theguardian.com/environment/...
When we are looking at carbon and managed forests, we need to be carefully considering the whole forestry carbon cycle.
We need to considering carbon in forest products & also avoided emissions e.g. using timber instead of concrete.
More here www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications...
Great to see this investment in lower carbon Home Grown Homes 🌲🏴
Positive impact on both housing and the Scottish rural economy.
www.ttjonline.com/news/scottis...
A number of people were interested in the electric deer fencing we use for protecting against deer browsing on coppice compartments. A number of my coppice woodland clients use this method successfully on a number of different species. 🧵
Not my usual articulate self but to be fair it was a bit spur of the moment and I was a bit pissed off.
Which is why I'm looking forward to starting this podcast. Seems to be the fashionable thing to do.
A concise and clear explanation on this week’s SFI situation in England. Morale across our rural sectors is currently very low.
Yes, I know exactly where that is and it surfaces on social media from time to time.
Sharing again for #ForestFriday.
The cultural heritage significance of our native woodlands is sometimes overlooked yet is there to be found if we look a little closer. 🌳🌲🏴💚
An old sycamore tree growing on a rock outcrop beside a castle
Like this old sycamore, clinging to the rock.
At this time of year you have to take the opportunity’s to extract timber when you can. I managed to quickly get out 80 tonnes of produce from the coppicing compartment on Friday, before 8mm of rain fell overnight to temporarily stop it again.
The Dean Bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and took about 3 yrs to build 1829-1831.
Perhaps he should have been consulted when work started on repairing the North Bridge in 2018 …
Progress is being made with the current 2ha coppicing job in south Norfolk but it is relatively slow going due to the stool density and small diameter of the product. This is a woodland I’ve managed and worked in for over 17 years and it has a fantastic history.
A 🧵
A very happy and richly deserved retirement to Neil Stewart of UHI and the Scottish School of Forestry.
Huge impact on 41 years of forestry students 🌲🌳🏴
www.inverness.uhi.ac.uk/news/longest...
