Dixter Woods

Today I learnt Dixter is not only a house and garden, but also manages two pieces of woodland on its estate. I was given the opportunity to visit and work the woods. I was delighted as I had not worked a wood since Westonbirt and before that college working in an ancient hazel coppice called Siccaridge. I enjoy the atmosphere of woodland; it feels a very natural place to be, enclosed, peaceful and secure.

A compartment of the wood previously coppiced, growing for its next harvest.

The compartment of the wood coppiced last winter, note how more open the canopy is.

The woodland is comprised mostly by Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa and Hornbeam Carpinus betulus coppiced stools with English Oak Quercus robur and Common Ash Fraxinus excelsior Standards, however in the compartment we were working I also noted:  Hazel  Corylus avellana, Holly Ilex aquifolium, and Silver Birch Betula pendula accounting for a significant proportion of the understory.

A pulp hook used to grip the lengths of timber

The tractor and trailer is used to bring the harvest back to Dixter

Coppicing is a traditional form of native broad leave woodland management. It involves repetitive felling on the same stool close to ground level. Shoots are then allowed to re-grow from the coppiced stump.

The emphasis at Dixter seems to be of Sustainable land use that dynamically supports biodiversity. I believe the management plan for the woodland is to bring the wood back into a 15 year coppice rotation.

Coppiced woodland has a broader range of habitats due to the compartments at different growth stages. Areas will have different light levels hitting the ground depending on the density of the canopy. Areas with greater light levels will favour many invertebrates and woodland flora. It is this regulated diversity of habitat that enables coppiced woodland to support a broader range of species. In a recent spider survey conducted at Dixter out of 124 species recorded 64 inhabited the woodland environment.

Beginnings of a wood pile 

P.T.O driven saw bench used to process gnarly timber into firewood for the house.

The task for the next few days is to extract all the seasoned chestnut timber, then deliver and stack the logs beside the great barn ready to be processed into firewood and timber products. Paths need to be cleared in the wood through brambles to access the timber stacks. The larger chestnut timber will be dragged to the trailer using a pulp hook and manual handled onto the trailer.