We revisit woodlands in a 3-4 cycle on average to source timber for our logs and to manage and maintain the condition of the woodland.

Woodland management

Smaller woodlands, say, 10 acres in size, are managed and maintained every 2-3 years. We would take approximately 20%-30% of the trees out. A 100 acre woodland may need only 10 acres out. It's a percentage of the ground area.

Much of the work that we do is selecting individual trees, or in a big area, we may have to select groups using our own judgement and experience to do this.

Selective felling

The landowners and forestry consultants who use us respect our knowledge of what we deem right for the woodlands and that we know what to take out and what not to. For example, if a tree regenerates low down, maybe a metre from the ground, it's generally hollow. So we would select that one to take out as it's going to fall over anyway. The big estates will only use people who have the experitse and knowledge to do this. They wouldn't want careless are unexperienced timber contractors wrecking their assets. Their trust is important to us and our expertise and knowledge is important to them.

For every tree cut five are planted?

There is no hard and fast rule, although what we would say is that within most councils and landowners there's a willingness to replant more trees than are felled although it's down to the individual.

Typically, we'd say we are felling trees that are around 30-40 years old.

Coppicing is a way of thinning a wood

Coppicing is the cutting-back of one tree to benefit the tree next to it. When you carry out coppicing work, the tree isn't destroyes, it will grow back in 20 years. Rather like a rose bush, if you prune it, it will come back in the Spring. We have a certain cutting technique for coppiced trees, the tree is cut at a certain angle in order to try and drain all the wet weather elements i.e., rain and snow, away from the centre of the tree. This ensures the tree does not rot at the core; the core is the future of the tree as it regrows.

When we coppice a tree (only certain trees are able to be coppiced) it can be regarded a bit like a daffodil. You will not see it in winter but it's there, the majority of the plant is dormant underground. That's predominantly how the coppicing works. Ash and sycamore will be taken out when we are thinning-out the woodlands as they are of a single stem tree and the chances are that they will die when coppiced. Again, this is a great example of nature helping us, as ash makes great firewood logs.