One task, two teams

By the Session Leader; photos by ‘C’

Coppicing time again!  Our chance to see how much everything has grown since last year. 

There are two main sites at Earth Trust where we do coppicing; down in the depths of the woods the far side of the Clumps – a long walk – and today’s site, the Broad Arboretum, which is just a short walk from the Centre.

We were not disappointed as there had been masses of growth and plenty of work for the day’s large turnout.  To our surprise we were asked to split into two teams.  The smaller group was to go round to the far side of the arboretum where we were told there was “a smaller group of stools that are quite thin and easily cut”.  That team set off, together with the leader, never to be seen again except at tea-break and at session end.  As the leader omitted to take any photographs, posterity will just have to take his word for it that they were doing just as much work as the main team! 

You may notice in the photos the lovely sunshine and colours which the main group enjoyed.  Round the other side of the arboretum, the small group found that far from being thin and easily cut the trees were twice as high and thick, so we didn’t see any sunshine.  Some stools had not been cut for several years.

What the photo above does not show is that the select few set off to work in the company of a certain black dog [a real canine: not a metaphor for mental-health difficulty – Ed.] who is very sweet, but could not stand still, but had to roll in a substance not positively identified, but odiferous.

Meanwhile, on the sunny side of the wood, some members of the main team couldn’t wait, and got stuck in straight away:

Well almost straight away.  Shortly after work had commenced, there was a pause for some deliberation and exchange of views: to be sure of knowing exactly how the task was to be carried out.

The team in which the photographer was embedded, was working beside a memorial oak, not to be cut down:

This tree was planted by Hugo Brunner, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, at the launch of the Oxfordshire Collection of Native Trees and Shrubs on Thursday 5th December 1996

In both teams, volunteers worked in pairs most of the time, taking it in turns with one cutting, the other supporting and dragging away:

Once the hazel was cut down, it had to be processed into stakes, binders, and brash:

Some of the brash was used to cover over the newly cut stools to protect fresh shoots from nibbling deer.  The small team on the other side had so much brash that it had to be heaped at the side of the main track for future collection and disposal.

At session end there were several scenes of a good morning’s work to admire.  This was just one:

Final job of the day: close the ‘Hampshire gate’.  Don’t worry, this photo is not of two Green-Gymmers having a fight.  [At least not a fight with each other – Ed.]  They are wrestling with the primitive gate that didn’t want to be closed:

Apparently what makes it a Hampshire gate is the loop of wire which hooks over the gate-post.  Volunteers were singularly unimpressed:

“If that’s a Hampshire gate, I don’t think much of Hampshire.”

– “Why have we got a Hampshire gate in Oxfordshire anyway?”

– “Well this hasn’t always been Oxfordshire.  This was once Berkshire.”

– “Berkshire yes, but not Hampshire!”

The site warden was delighted at the end to drive off with a trailer full of stakes and binders.