A windy week with some very strong gusts whipping through the trees, but no damage as far as I can tell to date. There is a real danger of trapped branches being disturbed by the wind and drooping down on anyone underneath. These are rather gruesomely called “widow makers” as they have fatal results. Always as well to look overhead before getting absorbed in a task even in still conditions if you are disturbing the tree itself.
An old proverb says that March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. Well to date we have had plenty of the roaring and not much of the gamboling.
Most of the last week has been spent putting up the 6′ high deer proof fencing around the coppice. Desperately aware that I am behind the ideal time for this activity and so am pushing on so that we can start and complete the planting next week! Very late but hopefully the hazel will be tolerant. Generally hazel is a plant that likes to survive and isn’t looking for excuses to shrivel up and die so here goes.
The netting comes in 100m rolls and is a bit numb to handle at first. I tend to string out a length of the netting and position it roughly against the support posts and pin with a couple of wire staples. The next job is to connect the netting to the bottom and top support wires. This can be easily achieved using short lengths of thin wire (say 1.5mm dia) and making a twisted loop at equal 1m spacings.
This approach means that the netting is free to move a little bit and so shouldn’t tear or rip as readily as if it was absolutely rigidly fixed.
The technique is very easy but becomes very repetitive some 300 times later (150m x 2 of support wires).
Oh and most importantly don’t forget to leave a doorway so that you can access the coppice if necessary. This one is a bit more rustic than I had intended but was made from the bits of hazel poles that I had to hand.
I will go around the bottom of the whole fence with a 3′ high roll of chicken wire with say a 6″ overlap on the ground to discourage muntjac deer and badgers who try and burrow under any obstacle.
So now ready for the main event which is the planting and layering of the existing stools. Be good to get this completed and leave the hazel to get on with simply getting established and hopefully thriving in its new home.
More next time………………………
Tim Burr 