Lynchmere Common - Planting Hazel Coppice

This week we've been putting in the fence posts around this year's planting of hazel trees on the Lynchmere Commons, thanks to Mark Busby's hard work and Robin Barnes for finding us the trees, stakes and guards.

One of the more noticeable features of woodland management and is the cutting down of trees. Many people find it hard to understand that woodlands need to be managed and that cutting trees is an integral part of this process. The best (that is healthies and most diverse) woodlands in this country are a product of continuous management over centuries.


Planting new trees doesn't seem to get noticed as much as cutting older ones. For the last 4 years we've actually been planting trees on the Lynchmere commons at a faster rate than we've been cutting them down. Not bad for a heathland site. The trees we're cutting have mainly been birch and scots pine whereas the trees we're planting are hazel and this year we've planted 300 bringing the total to 1350 over the last 4 years.

The areas of hazel planting are around the edges of the common and will be managed as coppice woodland, each area being known as a coup. A coppice is woodland that is cut regularly and then regrows from the stumps naturally. All native hardwoods will do this, provided that the attentions of deer, rabbit and cattle can be diverted. This process does not damage the stump, called a stool, provided that its done properly. Indeed coppice stools tend to be much longer lived than the maiden trees.

Coppicing was once the major form of woodland management in the British Isles and has much to recommend it still. The regular clearing of each area provides a cycle which is highly beneficial to the woodland flowers and plants, for example blue-bells, which are under threat in many woodlands, and which thrive in coppices. Consequently many species of insects and animals also benefit from the coppicing. Coppicing is an inherently sustainable form of woodland management, since the product is harvested regularly and the trees regrow without needing replanting or artificial nutrients.



Once the hazel trees have grown sufficiently we will start cutting them, one coup a year, bringing the coppice into rotation. Typically Hazel is cut on a six or seven year rotation, so we will be planting for at least another 2 or 3 years before we can cut each area and only at the second cut will the stools start to deliver quanties of hazel rods that can be used for hurdles, walking sticks, thathing spars and other greenwood crafts. The sweet chestnut fence posts that we've just put in are coppice products and have just been cut from the coppice on Stanley farm right next to our hazel area.