Tree Felling

Just spent three days clearing a small section of woodland to allow hazel to flourish for coppicing.
There was a mix of Birch, Sycamore, Goat Willow, Hawthorn and the tallest, Aspen, were 70 to 80 feet high.

The ground is regenerating old spoil heaps and the soil is so poor that despite the trees being less than forty years old, they are all starting to rot. This is not helped by the Ivy, but even the trees free of it are suffering too.

Our house runs on wood for cooking and heating so we should have enough firewood for a few years! The carbon footprint is quite low as the cut wood (we used 6 litres of fuel) can be barrowed up the garden for drying in the woodshed. There may be an odd bit for spoon carving too. I've never used Aspen before so I'll find out today how well it carves! There is also some large diameter Ivy, nearly 5 inches, which seems very dense and worth a try too.