Copsework
@copseworker
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Privileged to earn a living from #Woodmanship -Working Hazel Coppice & Hedgelaying. More graft than craft. #veganpowered
New Forest-South Downs
Joined May 2012
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A quick explanation of the Hedgelaying, the ancient traditional practice of maintaining a boundary from living trees.
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I had loads of binders left over. They are too thin to split so I just made this rustic bin to dump garden waste/compost.
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While I’m bundling up sticks in the wood my mate Simon is just up the road churning out stunning work like this.
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I tried to avoid him but he seems to be under every woodpile I work on. I’m calling him Kenny. Kenny Leveret 😂
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A quick explanation about the fundamentals of Hazel Coppice.
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A bit more progress today. Front and back of hedge shown for reference.
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In all this doom and gloom I’ve made another video. Stay safe and remember that life still goes on in the wood.
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The day started with a deer and ended with this inquisitive hare so close I could have tickled him.
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A view from the office this morning. For the avoidance of doubt, this is Coppicing. This wood has been harvested like this every 7 years for centuries.
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Faggots have been used since the Roman Occupation to trap silt/reinforce banks and guide the flow in rivers/wetlands. Soft engineering like this is better than hard landscaping for flood management.
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Mike the hurdlemaker is combined forces with Alan who is still going strong in his 70’s to make over 100 6’x6’ hurdles for one particular job. This is what Coppicing is all about.
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A thread on sustainable woodland management. Specifically my experience of working Hazel Coppice in Hampshire,England.
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1. A thread on heritage crafts and the problems of outsourcing. This lovely chap is making spars. Short lengths of coppiced hazel are split and pointed at both ends. Every time a roof is thatched it requires many hundreds of spars.
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Great to read that the grants for hedgelaying have been substantially increased.
@DefraNature
We are increasing money available to farmers for nature-friendly farming.
By making our Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship schemes more attractive, we want to help farmers enhance nature and deliver sustainable food production.
➡️
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I’m glad my garden is wild and I’ve stopped mowing most of it.
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Just in case you’re wondering why I’m such a fan of the goshawk. Here’s a pic of a nest in the Forest of Dean. Natural pest control of Grey Squirrel.
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So pleased to finish laying the hedge
@NewForestFruit
today. It’s been great to have such a nice reception and plenty of decent coffee.
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Punctured wheelbarrow ? No problem when you have access to wood. Air dried heart of oak carefully selected knotty section hand crafted with a chainsaw 😅
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I made a new haft for this lovely axe from a piece of elm out of this hedge I laid in W Sussex. The wedge is oak from a weathered old oak butt I found in the wood.
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A quick video to illustrate the wood in spring after it’s been coppiced and all wood and brash has been removed to allow maximum regeneration.
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@ChrisGPackham
Hedgerows need Hedgelayers. Only two breeding pairs in Hampshire. Here's one I laid earlier.
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I’m in the wood now and I’ve just seen my first swallow of the year.
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A thread on Hazel Coppice. This pic is of a wood in early spring after all the hazel has been coppiced (cut leaving low stumps) A few birch and oak trees have been left to grow on. 1/
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I put him back where I found him using an old bucket so I didn’t leave scent. He’s now safe hiding under faggots so mummy hare can feed him at dusk & dawn as usual. So adorable.
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The village of Kings Somborne used to house 33 hurdlemakers and sparmakers. Trevor is still going strong and makes tidy hurdles but he’s the last of the line and doesn’t use social media.
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All this talk of grey squirrel reminds me of this Goshawk nest. Sorry I can’t credit the photographer but it was a project in the Forest of Dean. We need more Goshawks.
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My Sami warrior/boatbuilder friend on Facebook has restored this Nordlandsbat in Norway. Meanwhile a local Facebook friend has decorated a wall with pallets. What has happened to us ?
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Another load of spar gads and ligger rods to be made into thatching spars and liggers.
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Yesterday I saw this natural regeneration right next to trees planted in tubes
@QECP
Maybe the trees are a different species but it makes me wonder why we plant trees when natural regeneration is often better.
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Thanks for all the positive responses to the video. Here’s another one I made last winter.
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Quick video demonstrating the use of the billhook, an ancient tool still used today for trimming hazel rods during coppicing.
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My main sparmaker took this load away on Wednesday (I cut about half of them) and he’s split and pointed them into thousands of thatching spars & liggers. Now he wants more.
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A thread. This basket of split hazel was made by a friend. It takes about a day to make even when you’re experienced so it’s unlikely that folks would want to pay a day’s wages for one. 1/3
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Lovely light this evening. I’m in the zone and I’ll be glad to start a different job tomorrow.
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Mike the Hurdlemaker’s latest job. It’s like a tapestry in split hazel.
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Busy day with the billhook. It looks messy but in this scene there is wood ready for 4’ & 6’ stakes/faggots for rivermending, hurdle rods/zales,round rods & wood for thatching spars/liggers.
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Flailing a hedge isn’t always bad. It can create dense growth which is great nesting habitat for farmland birds like Yellowhammer. They are a red listed species and need hedges like this and you can hear one calling while I ramble on here.
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Another stunning fence by my friend Mike. Apart from a few round rods at the base, every piece of coppiced hazel is split lengthwise before weaving into place. This frugal use of the wood also creates a tight durable weave.
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Today I had a quick look at a hedge that I laid a while ago on a green lane in the Meon Valley in Hampshire.
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A lovely way to admire your local chalkstream and cool down in this heatwave.
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Nice natural light for filming today. Binding the first hedge of the season at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery,West Sussex.
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A short video thread about the practical aspects of Coppicing Hazel.
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A short thread of videos about Ancient Woodland managed as Hazel Coppice.
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There goes another load of Hazel Faggots for wetlands restoration.
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So sick of posts like this bashing farmers because they don’t understand hedges & their required management. I’ll say it again-flailing each winter is often perfectly good maintenance and often a legal requirement on roadside hedges.
Another hedge flailed to within an inch of its life; no wonder our farmland birds starve…
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Short video to illustrate the scale of coppicing & the way almost every twig is utilised to leave the wood clear for maximum regeneration and sunlight to promote flora/fauna reliant on the coppice cycle.
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The funniest thing on Twitter right now.
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It’s not all doom and gloom. Work in progress on a recently planted hedge.
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This oak died from beefsteak fungus (fistulina hepatica). Now all the sapwood has rotted leaving the brown coloured heartwood. Splitting the wood follows the grain and makes it easier to move and saw into planks.
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My local car boot sale restarted today and I found these for £8. Living the dream 😅
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In my youth salmon were relatively common. Sadly they’ve been in decline for decades so it was absolutely awesome to see this on the Itchen Navigation today.
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Hopefully this video illustrates the mosaic of different of habitat created and maintained by coppicing.
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Nice to see that Stuart from
@Sparsholt_Coll
has done a proper job teaching students hedgelaying on the lower drive. Highly visible job that’s a great advertisement.
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This is a typical scene in the wood during the first spring after cutting. Early Purple Orchid and Bluebell.
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That’s another load of Hazel Faggots for
#rivermending
Tried and tested since the Roman Occupation, they are made from the wispy tops of the stems and it’s a great use of a waste product.
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The bark is lifting off this dying oak tree and it’s left a tiny gap for this wren to build a nest in.
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I have been asked to do tree work that’s unnecessary and ecologically wrong and I always turn it down with an email explaining exactly why it’s wrong. If only others could do the same ?
6,000 trees were planted in King’s Lynn by the council to tackle climate change.
But they were poorly planted in species-rich grassland with rare wildflowers. In April. *90% of them* have died.
I went to this ‘tree cemetery’ with
@CharlieJGardner
.
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The best thing about laying a hedge at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery is chatting to the monks on their way back from their stay in the forest. One of them is from Thailand and he had this lovely kindling chopping tool.
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I’m really enjoying the last few days without rain and the bright sunshine highlights the autumn colours.
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@M_Z_Harrison
Thanks. Here’s one I laid earlier. I found two inner tubes and a gas canister with a valve. Pesky cyclists. 🙄
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@FrankJWood2
@IMPeachlander
@MarcDavenant
Frank. I’ve just checked your tweets and sadly it appears that you have been lied to and caught out quite frequently by every fake news anti vaccine and wacky conspiracy theory. Stay safe.
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I turned up late this morning and my new best friend was waiting for me.
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Work in progress. So far this coupe has provided materials for 400 river stakes,300 hedging stakes,1500 binders, 425 faggots and thousands of thatching spars. Well managed Hazel Coppice is abundant and sustainable.
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Transformation in progress
@WessexRivers
on the River Test at Chilbolton Cow Common. Great to see my faggots and rods forming new banks protected by chestnut paling and posts. Coppice Products in action 👍
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It was a great privilege to spend the last day of the year on this hedge and realising that the peregrine I’ve been watching has been launching surprise attacks on the wood pigeons & rooks from this pylon. Happy New Year 🥳
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