The rich resource of dead wood is vital to many wondrous fungi and creatures who spend much of their lives hidden from the human eye.
Greater Wood Wasps spend up to 4 years as grubs inside rotting wood, which they eat, before eventually turning into adults. Mum gives them the best possible start in life, by injecting fungal spores into the wood where she lays her eggs, which helps to make sure their will be plenty of rotting wood for years to come. Other insects which rely on dead wood include a rather rare Crane Fly, the spectacular Ctenophora pectinicornis.
A coppiced wood is always growing
Coppicing is the ultimate tool of sustainable management. It has been the traditional way of harvesting for thousands of years. We cut carefully within a system of rotation, clearing just small parcels of trees, in different places each year.
Coppiced trees grow back very quickly – being cut down does not stop British broad leaf trees, like oak, ash, hazel and holly. They might reach 2 meters height in their first year of regrowth.
Future harvests of the small-diameter wood will become easier and more useful because each coppiced parcel has fewer over-mature poles and more even-aged growth on each stool of hazel, ash and oak.
