Hello woodland enthusiasts!

Its that time of the year again when we think about getting out in the woods to continue our work to regenerate the wood and keep it healthy as well as getting that sense of well being that working alongside others in a woodland setting can bring.

The schedule of work parties for 2024/25 is set out below.

This includes some Sunday afternoons where the daylight hours allow a  reasonable work time and a safe return to Chapel Lawn.

Afternoon sessions begin in Feb 25 as before then sunset prevents a 2.5 hour session in the afternoon.

Coffee and cake will be provided!

Meet in the Village Hall car park or make your own way to the Quillets.

Sunday  27th October – 10.00 for 10.30 start until 1.00pm.

Sunday 24th November – 10.00 for 10.30 start until 1.00pm.

Sunday 29th December – not programmed

Sunday 26th January – 10.00 for 10.30 start until 1.00pm.

Sunday 23rd February – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm

Sunday 23rd March – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm

Sunday 30th March – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm (EXTRA SESSION)

Sunday 27th April – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm

Hope you can join us for these sessions, we look forward to seeing you in the wood soon!

Kind regards

Mark Limbrick

Helped along greatly by the absence of rain (and you can’t often say that at the moment), yet again the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society enjoyed a successful apple-pressing day on Sunday 13th October at the village hall in Chapel Lawn. For the fourth year now, the Kemp Valley apple pressers arrived with their equipment and ensured a successful event.  310 bottles of truly delicious pasteurised juice and 76 litres of unpasteurised were produced for satisfied customers who came and went throughout the day bearing baskets, bags and boxes of apples to be pulped, pressed and pasteurised. As ever, it wasn’t just about the apples. It was a very friendly, sociable occasion and, who knows, maybe some new friendships were formed. Thanks, of course, must go to all who turned out that day to help, resulting in £465 raised for the Society’s funds. 

Just to make a change from raising funds for our own nature recovery activities, the board of directors of the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society are happy to publicise a major fund-raising campaign by the Middle Marches Community Land Trust. Briefly, they hope to purchase two flower-rich meadows near Minsterley in Shropshire which support, amongst many other species, the largest colony of green-winged orchids in the county. This has led to their designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by the government’s nature conservation body, Natural England. We encourage you to feel generous. Here’s a link to the fund-raising webpage.

When we entered the 21st century, a great many places planted millennium oaks to mark the occasion – but not here in the Redlake Valley. Better late than never, though. When Janet Hartin and her husband, Nigel, moved into their house in Bucknell in the year 2000, Janet planted an acorn that she’d found nearby. 24 years later although constrained by its container, it had become too large for her back garden so she generously donated it to the Redlake Valley. Community Benefit Society.  

It has now been planted in Brinnedin Wood a little way to the left of half way up the flight of rustic steps in the society’s quillets. It’s a lovely little tree so, with a ring of fencing to protect it from deer, hopefully it will settle in well and grow to maturity. Thanks to Bob James for the use of his tractor and Simon Jameson for his sledge-hammer power. 

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

On Saturday 18^th November, fifty eager diners and six competitive cooks  turned out for ‘The Taming of the Stew’, an evening of wine, fine food and high tension. All were eager to know who would be chosen as the winning casserole maker using venison from a wild one-year-old red deer hind specially selected for the occasion. Miles Lawton, who works with landowners in the Redlake Valley to keep the burgeoning deer population under control, was tasked with the difficult job of deciding which of the six casseroles was the best. After polishing off generous helpings of casserole, baked potatoes and peas, and consuming eleven delicious puddings (Chapel Lawn is well known for its puddings), the guests hung onto every word of Miles’ illustrated talk on the many aspects of deer management, explaining how it protects crops and woodlands and keeps the deer herds healthy. Finally, the winner was announced. Miles’ job was all the more difficult because the six recipes were not only delicious, but startlingly varied.  In the end, Janet Tudor from Pentre near Chapel Lawn won with her Italian Agrodulce recipe.  

The five runners-up were Simon James from New Invention, Alison Gunning-Stevenson cand Karen Sharpe from Bucknell, Ryan Davies from Heyope, and James Middleton from Chapel Lawn. Janet’s prize was a bottle of St Emilion Grand Crut, while the five runners up were presented with boxes of Belgian Chocolates, giving the very local occasion a slightly European flavour. All competitors received certificates. RVCBS chairman, Mark Limbrick, thanked Miles and the helpers who had made the evening possible and explained that the money raised from the evening would help fund deer fencing around a recently felled area in the Society’s Brineddin Wood quillets. By protecting the area and encouraging growth of young trees, it is anticipated that the biodiversity of the wood will be boosted. Mark also  encouraged guests to come along to the monthly woodland work parties, the next one being on Sunday  26^th November – meet in Chapel Lawn Village Hall car park at 10.00 am.

The evening raised just over £300. The six casserole recipes can be found here.

Six volunteers generated 18 hours of work getting to grips with the first of the recent felling contractor’s debris piles. We also constructed a log storage platform near to the new access gate to accommodate sawn logs destined for firewood, with the remaining brash used to construct a linear dead hedge down the slope.  The debris pile has almost disappeared.

Great work by the team!
 
Thanks to every one and see you next time!

Mark Limbrick
RVCBS Chairman

Our apple pressing day on 21st October was a great success and made it onto the front page of the local Redlake Magazine.

We have two events coming up in the near future. On Saturday 21st of this month we still have some slots left for apple-pressing. Bring your apples and wine bottles and leave with delicious pasteurised apple-juice that will last for at least a year. 

Then, on Saturday 18th November, we are inviting you to dine out on locally-sourced venison when brave people will be competing for first prize in a venison casserole competition. That will be followed by a talk on deer control by a deer stalker who is working with local landowners to protect their crops and woodlands from deer predation. 

See the posters below for full details and how to book.