We have been granted a felling licence by the Forestry Commission which permits us to undertake thinning of the Scots Pine plantation (Block 3a) and regeneration felling elsewhere in the. wood. The regeneration felling will mostly be targeted at removing trees affected by ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) and to remove Turkey Oak.

Most of the Ash in the woods are in block 4b and to the east of block 5c. We are planning to fell the ash trees in this latter block during 2025 along with some trees close to the public path in the North East corner of the wood. We will extract dying ash from block 4b later. The felled trees will be left to dry on site and then moved to the woodchip barn on the adjacent Springbok Estate for chipping for their wood heat boilers.
Turkey oak (Quercus cerris) was introduced to the UK in the 1700’s as an ornamental species for parks but has proved troublesome in in woodlands. It grows quickly and seeds freely and when it crosses fertilises with our native oak the trees it produces are sterile. For this reason good forestry practice is to remove turkey oak.
Turkey oak timber has a higher moisture content than native oak with the result that it takes a very long time to dry and can rot before it does. It also tends to warp and split when drying making it unsuitable for joinery. We are able to use it for woodchip in the boilers but only if it is de-barked and split when felled so it dries out before it can start to rot. A number of turkey oak have already been removed from the wood and we will either ring bark the remaining few to provide standing dead wood or remove them where they are close to paths.
The felling licence stipulates that we leave the woodland to regenerate naturally for at least two years and then, if necessary, plant with native broadleaf species to fill any gaps and ensure that pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) forms a substantial proportion of the mix.