Bridgewood photos and video

Posted by Tanos on Wed 29 Oct 08, 11:45 PM

I've collected some recent pictures and made a short video, highlighting aspects of the work going on. This concentrates on the Glade and the felling of large trees ("standards") I've been doing there.

This picture shows logs and branches from several trees felled and then cut up. I'm working round the edge, felling the trees into the centre of the Glade or into the space left by the previous felling. The aim is to avoid felled trees getting tangled ("hung up") in standing trees, as the danger is the hung up tree falls on you when you want to fell the other one. If you don't clear up as go along, you end up with a giant version of the pick up sticks game. But since you have a chainsaw, that's not a big problem ...

Felled tree, still showing the shape of the crown laid out on the ground after the branches have been cut off. This process of "snedding" makes it easier to get at the trunk itself. You then either cut through it if it's off the ground, or cut part way through and then roll it to cut through the other side. Poplar wood isn't very useful, so I'm just going to use the big logs to mark ride and Glade edges, or as seats. I've been disposing of the smaller branches by dragging them off into the undergrowth and leaving them to rot down. This provides habitats for insects and other invertebrates, which in turn encourages birds and small mammals, and on peaty soil a percentage of the carbon is permanently fixed.

Cross section of a recently felled poplar tree, about 12 inches in diameter. The central heartwood (which is largely inert), the surrounding sapwood (which transports water and nutrients), and bark are clearly visible. By counting the rings, this tree was about twenty years old.

Finally, a video I made before cutting up some of the trees in the glade and taking the photographs. The video shows the Glade and then the stretch of Middle Ride from the Glade to the Cross Roads where it meets the North and South Rides:

(There's a high-quality version available on the video's own page on YouTube - all the leaves overload their normal quality processing, and produce big blurred areas )

Edited Fri 14 Nov 08, 9:55 PM by Tanos