It’s a while since we’ve issued an update on our activities – for the very good reason that we have been extremely busy. You’ll recall that In June 2023 we were granted a ten-year felling licence by the Forestry Commission to begin the process of rotational coppicing, our aim being to revitalise the biodiversity of the Society’s portion of a long-neglected wood. Conscious of the potential visual impact of such work,  and not being entirely sure how quickly coppiced trees would regenerate or ground flora appear, we proceeded with caution by bringing in a contractor to create a small clearing by removing about eighty densely packed trees. Hearts in mouths, we watched 100-year-old trunks being hauled down the steep hillside and then along the footpath to where a supportive landowner had let us install a gate that gave access across his fields to the road.

Once the felling was completed and trunks removed, volunteer work parties created a deer exclosure around the felled area. The felling and fencing were substantially funded by Shropshire Hills National Landscape’s (the new name for Shropshire Hills AONB) Farming in Protected Landscape (FiPL) fund. There is still work to do repairing pathways and clearing brash and branches left over from the felling, some of which will be used for dead hedging to provide shelter for wildlife, but now the interesting part begins while we wait and watch. If all goes the way we think it will, shoots will appear from coppiced oak stools (trunks), seedling oaks which would previously have been shaded out or eaten by deer will survive the summer months, and a layer of ground flora that was largely absent beforehand will begin to establish itself. Although a condition of the felling licence is to create a slightly greater variety of tree species as a safeguard against disease and climate change, we will delay decisions on exactly which species to introduce and where until we know where there are gaps from natural regeneration. We will also delay any decision on any further clearing until we know how quickly the young trees are growing.

Regenerating stool from a trial felling in 2022