Hazel is an interesting tree. A particular garden variety has been bred to bring out a trait of strangely twisted branches. This convoluted form of hazel is sometimes know as the corkscrew hazel or Corylus avellane”Contorta”.
I imagine that this variety has been selectively bred from specimens found in the wild to bring out this characteristic form.
Whilst coppicing I spotted the branch below that had occurred naturally on a standard hazel tree. The branch has grown in a complete circle and started to fuse back onto itself where it crosses. Strange but attractive.
The coppicing is progressing well with almost all of the existing trees cut down to the first stage. Each of the stools will need to be further cut with the chain saw to bring them a lot lower to the ground. that way the new shoots will form as new side shoots to the base of the stool and form new roots. The danger of leaving the stools too high is that the new shoots simply form above the ground on the old base and so just regrow on the old stump without generating new roots. It is the formation of new roots that gives the hazel new vigour and extends its natural life from say 70 years maximum to hundreds as years as part of a regularly coppiced woodland.
The hazel has already formed catkins and it seems a real shame to be cutting them down now but that is the process. The removal of this growth will promote new healthier growth.
Some of the older trees such as the wild cherry have already begun to reach the end of their natural life and have fallen down. The picture below shows one that has fallen and “banjoed” a hazel stool on the way down. This will take some clearing up but I’ll tackle it in the new Year.
More next time…………..
Tim Burr 