We coppice areas of the south wood at Queenswood each year, to create a more diverse structure in the woodland: open areas; areas of grass and wildflowers which return in the next spring; scrub (bushes and saplings) which grows up in the next few years after coppicing, and areas with more mature trees. These habitats in turn attract more diverse species of woodland wildlife from small mammals and birds to woodland butterflies and other invertebrates.

The coppicing does take lots of energy so we try hard to make the best use of the material it produces. Large diameter wood makes excellent logs and we use a professional firewood processor that we pay to come in and chop and split them. Very small stuff can be used for traditional coppice products such as heatherings, bean poles, pea sticks. However, there is always material that’s too big for most coppice products but also rather too small to efficiently make logs using a firewood processor. In the past we have simply chipped this material, using lots of energy to produce wood chip, however, it would be more valuable to us, and a better use of the product, if we could efficiently turn it into logs.

The solution has now been found! Our coppice volunteers have ingeniously manufactured a rack in which you stack the materials and cut through them altogether with a chainsaw. This very rapidly produces a pile of small diameter logs ready for sale. These logs are especially useful for those with small wood burners who can struggle to get nice small wood.

The rack was made from second-hand timber from our yard, which might otherwise have gone into the skip and iron bars were bought to create the uprights. The idea for the rack came from woodsman and nature reserve warden Martin Hayles and his team of volunteers who use them in Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s ancient woodland Lea and Pagets Wood, near Fownhope.