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Look out for the
Forestry Stewardship Council logo when buying wood or wood products. |
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- Rhododendron and
laurel were often planted for landscape or game cover, but can
smother a wood, preventing young trees growing as well as killing
off the ground flora. If they spread too far, we recommend cutting
and burning, and then either pulling the stumps up, or on bigger
sites, spraying the regrowth with Round-up herbicide.
- Animals grazing in
a wood can prevent regrowth of trees. Some natural browsing by
deer is fine, but if the neighbouring farmer allows his stock to
shelter in the winter, then the answer is a new fence!
- Young trees do
need looking after for the first five years, when they are
vulnerable to grazing (often rabbits), drought (especially in the
first three years and when surrounded by grass), or brambles (a
common problem in woodland glades. In nature the trees look after
themselves, but think of the wastage rate between the number of
acorns produced and a mature oak tree. The answers are rabbit
guards, spot spraying with round-up, and strimming respectively.
- Areas replanted
are often spaced quite close together, and thinning is needed, to
both give the remaining ones space to develop properly, or also to
try and gradually convert the area to trees of different ages.
- Storm damage is an
occasional problem, better avoided by careful management to get an
uneven aged structure. You can clear the mess and replant, but if
its only one tree, then why not leave it as a habitat for
minibeasts and bugs? Over one third of species in a wood depend on
the dead and decaying timber and leaf litter.
Look out for the
Forestry Stewardship Council logo when buying wood or wood products.
●
A woodland of your own ●
Managing for conservation ●
●
Woodland grants and permissions ●
Woodland taxation ●
● Woodland insurance ●
Buying a wood ● |
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