Coppicing

At the work party last Wednesday 26th March, we did some coppicing in the small copse at the top of the valley path close to post 8. Over the last few months we have spent a lot of time dealing with brambles, steps and dams. Upcoming work will involve keeping the grassy areas and paths tidy as S Glos are not yet able to mow any grass for us. It's not quite the time to start that work yet so we had a day available to do a little bit of coppicing to give us some material for future step repairs.

This is the copse near post 8 where we worked.

And this is one of the hazel stools in the copse. Since the last time we coppiced here the hazels have put on a lot of growth and will give us some poles suitable for step repairs.

Graham is taking out the thicker branches but leaving the thinner ones to put on a bit more growth.

These are some of the branches cut from the hazel stools before being processed.

Here Aiden is trimming them to remove the thin whippy bits and leave a useful pole.

The whippy bits are not wasted though. The thicker ones can be made into stakes which are then driven into the ground every three feet or so as Peter is doing here.

Then the thinner ones are woven between the stakes to make a dead hedge. Graham and Eric are weaving the hedge alongside the scrub area opposite the copse.

We had a bit of a rest then finished ... 

... the dead hedge. A productive morning on a warm spring day.

Clearing the Slippery Slope

For the work party on Sunday 9th March 7 volunteers returned to the bottom of the slope from the lookout ridge near post 7 down to the Jubilee Way path. The upper part of this area was cleared a few weeks ago by the student volunteers from UWE followed up by more clearance at the subsequent work party. This was continued and completed at this work party. I was away for this one but Andy Farquhar kindly sent me the following photos he took at the work party.

This shows what they started with.

And here they are hard at work.

Working their way across the slope ...

... and posing for a photo opportunity!

They achieved this. Well done all of you.

WOW Students February 2025

Last week thirteen students from the University of the West of England volunteered to work in Filnore Woods as part of their WOW week. They are all 1st Year Occupational Therapy students and at this time of year they have a week called Widening Occupations Week - WOW, during which they do volunteering work in the wider community as part of their course. 

We'd had lots of rain over the previous few days so much of the woodland was very wet and muddy. This restricted the kind of work we could do on safety grounds but clearing brambles was OK. We do this kind of work because brambles are invasive and soon spread over a considerable area if left. However, we don't clear them completely because they do provide a habitat for small birds such as long tailed tits who can nest in them out of the reach of predators. We stop this kind of clearance in Feb/March though, because this is the time that nest building can start, so this was a good time to get the loppers out and get on with it.

This path near the eastern border of the woods leads from the Jubilee Way up the slope towards post 7 in the trees. As you can see there are brambles on both sides almost covering the path higher up. We are going to leave most of the brambles to the right for the birds and clear the left hand ones.

We began at the bottom of the slope and widened the start of the path to open the junction with the Jubilee Path. This was the right hand patch of brambles but we didn't remove very much, just enough to give better access to the slope.

Then we went about half way up the slope and tackled the brambles near the beech trees. This is where the thickest patches are.

The ground is better drained in this area and the footing better so we were able to make some use of slashers - long blades on the end of a pole, but very carefully and in a controlled manner.

Once the path edges were open we could begin to remove the bulk of the brambles from the ground  between the path and the boundary fence. There were lots and lots of them and they are tough to cut down but the students kept going until it was time to finish and we left  the remaining brambles for the second set of volunteers arriving the next day.

Just enough time left to make a 'WOW' sign using loppers!

The second group came along on the following day and carried on with the clearing work started by the others.

They worked their way across the slope ... 

... then split into two section, one going uphill and the other going down.

After cutting down the brambles there's still plenty to do. The bits of cut bramble, called 'arisings', have to be raked up and moved to a pile. Then all the little bits left on the ground cleaned up to leave a tidy surface.

Both of these groups were wonderful young people who were a pleasure to work with and a tremendous help to the woodland.

Planting a Tree for Jerry

Jerry Dicker spent many years looking after the woods and was instrumental in setting up the Friends of Filnore Woods volunteer group. Sadly, Jerry passed away a little over a year ago and we thought that planting a tree in his memory would be a fitting and lasting gesture.

We decided to plant a Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) as it has lots of white, sweet scented flowers in spring that provide nectar and pollen for bees, while the foliage is the main food plant for the caterpillars of many moths and butterflies such as the Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). When the small cherries are produced they are eaten by blackbirds, song thrushes and many other birds. Any that the birds leave are food for small mammals such as badgers, wood mouse and dormouse. In autumn the leaves fade to orange and deep crimson to give a flamboyant end to the year. I am sure that this would suit Jerry.

We sourced the tree from a local nursery in Rockhampton which is only a few miles from the woods, and chose to plant it up on the ridge near post 7 where there is a lovely view over the River Severn and the surrounding countryside. From there you can also see the church at Oldbury which is close to the school where Jerry was headteacher for a while.

On the day before the planting Graham and I went to the woods to prepare the planting site. We dug a square hole rather than a circular one so that the roots will grow into the corners and then onwards into the surrounding earth. In a circular hole they can end up going round in circles in the soft earth and not spread out as much.

The planting was on Sunday 9th February which coincided with our first scheduled work party of the month. The path going up the valley to the planting site was very muddy after a lot rain and it would be easy to slip or fall, but as it was a work party day we had time to deal with that before people coming for the planting arrived. 

Ten volunteers had come along, we had a lot of wood chip near the tool store and lots of bags. Very soon a chain of people formed. Some filled bags which were then carried by others to the path and spread over the muddy areas. They worked very hard doing this - carrying wood chip uphill over mud is tiring! The path was made a lot safer and easier to walk up. As you can see above, Cathy, Aiden and Erika took the opportunity for a quick sit down, while Andy and Peter just stood in their wellies.

Once everyone had arrived, there were twenty-five of us to take part in the planting. I took on the job of holding the tree.

With the tree correctly positioned, Jerry's daughter and grandson began to fill the hole using the excavated earth mixed with some tree compost.

More compost and earth was mixed by my helpers and gradually the hole was filled.

The earth in the filled hole was firmed in ...

... and the supporting wooden stake hammered in by Jerry's grandson, with a big mallet and a helping lift.

The weather was cloudy but that didn't spoil the occasion. It was lovely to see so many people come along to show their appreciation of all the work that Jerry did to make Filnore Woods the place it has become. The tree will be a lasting memorial to a wonderful person who will be missed.

Photos by Lorna Price

The Dam Builders

Over the last few weeks we have had a lot of rain and some stormy weather. In a previous post I described how we built some leaky dams to help control the stream flowing down the valley but when I was in the woods a couple of weeks ago I found that our dam construction techniques had not been very good. This is the sight that greeted me.

The poles forming the dams had not been secure enough to withstand the force of the stream after heavy rain so the dams pretty much fell apart. Having said that though, the lower dam was still doing a reasonable job holding back some water.

For the work party on Wednesday 22nd January a repair was the priority. I wasn't able to attend, but seven volunteers did and began the re-construction. As you can see in the following photos the dams were built up with poles and stakes followed by reinforcement with mud and large stones. Fortunately it was a dry day so there wasn't too much water flowing.

There was some heavy rainfall a few days later and I went down to see how the dams were getting on. Passing by the stream near the tool store I saw that the flow was considerable ...

... but when I reached the dams they were all intact and doing a good job of slowing down the water flow.This photo was the only one I got because the ground near the stream bank was very slippery and I found I was sliding down into the stream. I was wearing wellies so no problem apart from getting back up the slope!

 

The woods may be wet and slippery but there are signs that spring is on its way. These primroses are coming out in the grassy patch near post 10 down the valley path.

On her way to the work party Erika saw signs of spring too and took these photos - 

                                

A couple of photos from today's volunteering day. The first snowdrops I have seen in the woods - two patches, and the hazel catkins were bright in places. I heard and saw a green woodpecker, a raven, great tits and a robin who joined us in our work - very closely!

The volunteers had worked hard all morning to repair the dams and they are holding back the stream. I expect we will have to do a similar job but hopefully not until next year.

Yet More Steps

Unfortunately we were not able to have any work parties in December because of adverse weather and the Christmas holidays. However, we resumed working last Sunday 12th January to start off 2025.

We began the new year near the bridge where we have previously built steps up towards the top meadow. The ground at the top of the steps has become muddy, and the path down to the steps is slippery. As you can see in this photo. To improve this, we decided to put more steps in up towards the flatter area.

We also found a broken step on the path leading up from the other side of the bridge.

We began by foraging around for poles that would be good for steps and carrying them over to the slope where Jim is sorting them.

The broken step on the far side of the bridge was repaired, then the construction work could begin. 

Andy and Eric dug out the trenches that the poles would sit in whilst Peter made the wooden pegs we use to hold the steps in place. Jim and Graham hammered the pegs in then drilled and nailed them to the poles to hold them securely in place. My contribution to this part of the work was to take the photos!

When all the poles were in place we finished off the steps with some wood chippings to level off the ground behind the poles.

A good mornings work that has made the muddy path a bit more manageable.