Tony Ridd with the latest countryside news
local countryside
country life
Compiled by TONY RIDD
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82
Island Life - April/May 2010
what to
look out
for...
Cowslips
One of our better known wild flowers and now
making a bit of a come back on the island because of more careful management of our chalk
downlands where they can look resplendent in
their numbers. Also look along coastal paths,
old meadows, woodland edges and railway
embankments.
back to nature
A countrymans diary
The last couple of months seem to
have flown by. As usual it’s been
our busiest time, which is great.
The ‘window’ for a lot of our work
is pretty tight, meaning whatever
the weather we are outside
planting trees, hedgerows or
working in the woods, coppicing
or felling.
Team work is important,
particularly when the weather is
at it’s worst and I’m lucky to have
a team of guys who work well
together looking out for each
other especially when the going
gets tough.
When planting a new woodland
or hedgerow there is always a
great sense of achievement that
we are creating something that
will get better in time and in turn
become a habitat for all kinds
of wildlife. When managing
woodland,
felling large or
difficult trees the
same sense of
accomplishment
is felt when
leaving a coupe
looking neat and
tidy ready for
the timber to be
extracted.
As with most
things in life
the bigger or
harder the challenge the greater
the triumph! To finish one
particular coupe, we had to fell
a large Turkey Oak as part of the
woodlands management plan.
It was heavily weighted to fall
the way we didn’t want it to, so
after a quick scoot up the tree
to perform a bit of tree surgery
removing the offending branches,
it was, successfully felled perfectly
along side the track, ready to be
picked up when the ground dried
out a bit.
As after all good battles, it was
only right to sit on our opponent
and drink it’s health…
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