Hedge restoration

The South boundary hedge of our orchard forms part of the parish boundary between Turnditch Parish and the Shottle and Postern Parish. Most of the hedge was restored by us when we took over the land. It was a neglected hedgerow which had been left to grow unchecked. We employed a professional hedger to re-lay the hedge a couple of years ago.  Where it has been restored it is a dense and healthy hedge comprising mainly of blackthorn, though there are other species such as holly, dog rose, and hazel growing.

However a section of the hedge, between the old large ash tree and the footpath, has long since vanished to be replaced by wire stock fencing. The section is about 30 metres long. I've no information as to why it was removed. However, this Spring (2017), we are planning to replant the hedge with the objective of letting it grow for a few years before having it laid in the traditional local fashion. We've chosen native hedging plants which match those already growing in the area. The hedging will be primarily Hawthorn with some Hazel, Ash and Dog Rose added in to the mix. There's already a couple of crab apple saplings from the orchard growing in that section

The plants will be protected by the existing wire fence and rabbit guard spirals. The greatest risk of damage is from sheep in the neighbouring field. We'll be dipping the roots of the plants in Rootgrow at the time of planting to help them develop good roots and have a good start in life.

Update: 10th March.   I've just returned from a planting session. We're about two thirds through the planting work having planted 75 bare root plants. The work has been slowed by the heavy clay which has, in the past ownership, been dumped on top of the top soil. There's also the odd block or two of concrete in the way. The young bushes/trees include: mostly Hawthorn, some Blackthorn, Field Maple, Hazel, Dog Rose, Bird Cherry.

Bird nesting season over; back to work

The bird nesting season is now over in the UK so I'm able to start work in tidying up the woodland part of the orchard. There's a potential fine of £5000 or six months prison for disturbing a Schedule 1 bird. I've seen none of those on the orchard or the adjoining woodland, but it is best practice not to disturb any wild bird.

At the "far end" of the orchard the land is narrow and almost completely taken up by the woodland on the embankment. The trees there have not been managed at all so it is dark and tangled. Trees are leaning against each other and ivy growth is rampant. I spent three hours today with a pruning saw and chain saw starting to unravel the trees. It was mostly Hawthorn and Ash, but I also took down some Blackthorn bushes which been annoying me all year.

After the hard work it was great to relax in the open part of the orchard in warm and bright mid-September sunshine. I took the opportunity to sample one of the Egremont Russet apples. They taste great but the pips in the core were still white, meaning the apples need some more growing time.

Clearing the river bank

I was able to put some time and effort into clearing unwanted trees from the river bank at the Turnditch orchard. The purpose of the clearance is to give some light for willow. We intend to plant the willow as woven spiling to protect the river bank from further erosion. This part of the River Ecclesbourne is prone to scour after the bridges in the fast flowing winter spate. 

We are initially removing some large hawthorn bushes which are overgrown, tangled and threatening to fall over into the river. We cannot simply fell the bushes as the weight of the top growth would cause them to topple into the river and make recovery much more difficult. Even directional felling cuts would not guarantee a safe or convenient fall of the bush. These bushes are about 20 ft (6 metres) tall and probably weigh about one tonne. They each have several upright trunks clustered around a root.

To achieve safe removal we're using cable winches to apply tension from the best direction. Once the trunk is under tension using a chainsaw we apply a partial felling cut, but not enough to fell that section of the bush. We then retire to the winch and increase the tension until the trunk disentangles from the top growth and falls. Using the winch we pull that section of the bush to a safe place where we can cut off branches then cut up the trunk. We are using an indirect pull from a cable winch and steel wire. The direction of the pull is set up using a snatch block pulley anchored to a convenient place.

We are delivering a coppice type cut to the hawthorn. It should allow them to regrow, but this time the process will be managed!

Indirect winch arrangement

The snatch block anchored to old gate post:

Snatch black anchoring

The cable winch:

Cable winch anchored to ash tree

Applying tension to the bush:

Apply tension prior to cutting

The next step will be to remove half a dozen small Elm trees on the river bank. I noticed last year there were badly wilting which suggests they have Dutch Elm Disease. We'll burn the wood on site to prevent any further spread of this tree disease.

Sheep 1 Orchard Site 0

We visited the site today and found three sheep on the land. Our fence repair is intact so they must have found another route on to the land. They soon retreated when we started a chain saw to do some work. We don't want to panic them because at this time of the year they are probably pregnant. 

We discovered the sheep had gnawed the bark from some off the branches we'd felled a couple of weeks ago. I'd imagine that unprotected fruit trees would suffer the same fate.

We spend a couple of hours cutting down small trees and working to tidy the embankment. It was mostly ash and hawthorn, but now there is a large pile of branches which need trimming and brushwood to burn or turn into wood chippings. It was hard work, with loads of thorns grabbing at us, but the result was satisfying. We removed four trees which were leaning over the fence and threatening long term problems. We cut their bases low in the normal coppicing style. It's far better to remove them now rather than waiting until the fruit trees are established.

Sheep Damage

In the picture you can see some of the damage caused to an Ash tree and an Elderberry shrub. The sheep have completely debarked a long section on each tree. Those trees will need to be dut down and coppiced to see if they'll recover.


Edit: 22/12/13 We met with Adrian, the guy who's going to lay the hedges. He told us sheep love to eat the bark from ash tree branches. Sure enough it was those branches in the log pile which the sheep had chewed.

More trees down

We managed to do some work on the orchard site today. We took down three small trees (2 elm and one hawthorn) and logged them into convenient lengths. The selection of these trees was to open up the access space. My wife discovered the joys of hawthorn thorns! 

The more often we see the road side hedge the greater the realisation how poorly the land has been maintained in the past few years. There are some large gaps and a lot of dead wood.

We're trying to create a stockpile of poles suitable for the uprights in the hedge laying process. Trunks which are too thick are cut into shorter lengths and stacked for seasoning as fire wood. I forgot some of the chainsaw lessons while tidying the branches and managed to cause the chain to jump off the chainsaw bar. I'll be doing some chainsaw servicing tonight. 

We've also ordered 220 metres of 16mm Polysteel rope and a manual 4 ton winch, these will be used in the process of directional felling of the trees close to the road. It is all part of the coppicing work. I'll be brushing up my rope skills such as eye spicing thimbles in at the ends of the ropes.

We performed some brush cutting to chop down some more of the jungle (grass, thistles, cow parsley etc., but kept the session short so the noise didn't disturb the neighbouring homes too much on a Sunday. The soil looks to be good quality alluvial loam which bodes well for the fruit trees of the orchard. We should also be able to plant some herbs between the trees as a crop.

This week we've seen an owl and pheasant on the land, plus all of the other usual small birds such as blackbirds, robins and blue tits. When we deal with the coppicing of the trees we'll keep an eye out for nesting places and preserve if possible or provide an alternative.