Reviving derelict coppice

Coppices which have not been cut for 50 years can be brought back into the coppice cycle, and should produce strong new growth. However, because of the large size and density of the coppice poles, cutting can be a slow and difficult job. Until a full rotation is re-established the material produced is often low grade and suitable only for firewood, charcoal or pulp, though sale of this will help offset labour and other costs.

Hazel, with its naturally multi-stemmed growth does not cope so well with dereliction, and hazel over 40 years may not all regenerate when cut. It’s important that any other competing trees are cut at the same time, to provide maximum sunlight and space for the hazel. Many hazel coppices have become invaded with birch, and suffer from the shade of too many oak standards, as well as the depredations of deer.

Extraction may be difficult, especially on steep hillsides, wet sites and where ride systems have fallen into disrepair. Re-open rides in advance of coppicing by clearing away all undergrowth. It may be possible to improve access by drainage and surfacing work, which will pay off in the long term by making extraction and other management very much easier.

When planning how big an area to coppice each year, consider the available labour, as well as the woodland size, type and other factors. It may be best to restore no more than 0.4 hectare (1 acre) each year, until the rotation is in order. Initial cutting is much more laborious than re-cutting on rotation, and it is easy to take on too much and do a poor job. Link the size of the coupe to the planned rotation and the available markets. See Tables 9a and 9b.

Potential problems

Coppicing operations should only be revived where operations can be continued in the long term. Where this is dependent on markets for coppice products there will always be some uncertainty, but where possible ensure that long term plans are in place before coppicing is restarted. Possible adverse effects on wildlife should also be considered.

• Coppicing may create a deer problem. Old coppice, especially hazel, is often open and draughty, with neither food nor shelter to attract deer. When coppicing is restarted, deer will be attracted by the food and shelter provided by the young coppice growth, and the deer population will rapidly increase.
• Some stools may have died, or will fail to regrow, leaving gaps in the coppice which are likely to become overgrown with bramble or other growth after cutting. To successfully restart the coppice cycle, the coppice must regrow strongly and evenly, suppressing other growth. Effort will need to be put into restocking, weeding and fencing to get each coupe regrowing strongly. Cutting one or two coupes, without any follow-up management, is likely to have adverse effects for wildlife and amenity.
• Flowering plants, which are such a feature of established coppices in the year after cutting, may be sparse or absent due to the long time which has elapsed since the previous cutting. It may take several cycles for the herb layer to recover.
• Similarly, the invertebrate fauna requiring large areas of active coppice will probably have vanished. For remaining invertebrates, it may be more useful to concentrate on management of rides and other permanent open spaces.
• The neglected coppice may contain large amounts of deadwood, which is valuable for invertebrates, birds, fungi and other organisms. Even if the deadwood is retained during clearance, the change to open, sunny conditions will be detrimental to its wildlife value.
• In small woods of less than 5 hectares (12 acres), the coupes may be too small or the interval between cutting adjacent coupes too long, to see major benefits for wildlife.
• Some neglected coppices have developed their own special fauna and flora, which may be damaged if coppicing is restarted. Those dominated by a single species, notably the northern and western oakwoods, are a particular example. They are probably best left to develop into semi-natural high forest.
• Other neglected coppices can be converted to high forest by singling, and then managed commercially under a continuous cover system.

Work rates

A work party consisting of a qualified chainsaw operator and volunteers using hand tools may take up to 300 person-days to clear and sort material from one hectare (120 person-days for an acre) of derelict coppice. Work may be two or three times faster on 15-20-year-old coppice. Professional workers with chainsaws can do the equivalent work in possibly a third of the time or less.

Clearing undergrowth

The amount of undergrowth such as bramble, elder or other shrubby growth will vary depending on the age of the coppice, the amount of shading and other factors. Any growth which impedes coppicing operations should be cleared before felling starts.

• Use billhooks, brushing hooks or slashers on brambles and other light growth, keeping a safe working distance from other workers.
• Use forks to gather up brambles and other material for burning.
• Try to retain any small flowering and berrying trees such as hawthorn and crabapple, as these are valuable for wildlife.

Cutting a neglected coppice will normally produce a large amount of regrowth of unwanted species such as brambles, bindweed and thistles, which can easily swamp the young growth from the coppice stools. In-cycle coppices, in contrast, have a smaller bank of weed species and the problem will not be so severe. Thorough hand weeding will be necessary in the first, second and possibly third year after cutting, until the coppice canopy is sufficiently dense to shade out unwanted growth.

Wood boundaries

It is best not to coppice wood boundaries at the same time as the adjacent interior coupes, to avoid loss of shelter. However, boundary coppicing at some stage is important to maintain the woodbank flora and to reduce shading of neighbours’ land. Where the woodland is surrounded by a hedge, this should be restored by laying. See Hedging – Preliminaries to hedge laying for full details.

Coppice woods have had boundary earthworks since the Anglo-Saxon period, and nearly all woods more than 100 years old have some kind of earthwork around the edge. The usual arrangement was a bank and ditch, with the bank next to the wood, and together the bank and ditch could be as wide as 7.5m (25’). To quote Oliver Rackham (Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape, 1990), ‘Woodbanks are a more eloquent record than any document of the value of woods in the middle ages. Woodland was precious, and people spent thousands of man-hours on defining and defending it.’ Existing woodbanks and ditches should not be altered because of their historical value. Where none exist, or for new coppices or other woods, a ditch and bank topped by a laid hedge are valuable additional habitats, as well as making a stockproof boundary.

Stocking

Where coppice stools are sparse, new plants will be needed to fill the gaps, to leave a maximum spacing of about 3.5m between stools. New plants can be produced as follows:

• Layering involves laying a stem to the ground and pegging it down until it roots. The resulting plant can be left to grow on in situ, or can be dug up after two growing seasons and transplanted. Layering from stools within the coppice has to be timed to fit in with the coppice cycle (see below). Alternatively, stools in a nursery area or alongside a ride can be set aside for layering purposes. This has the advantages that supply of young plants is easier to organise, and as young stems root more easily propagation rates from layering will be improved. The frequently cut stools also form a useful wildlife habitat, which combines well with management work to keep rides and glades open and sunny. A possible disadvantage is that plants are produced from fewer stools, so reducing genetic diversity.
• Stooling involves burying the cut stool and then digging up and replanting the new shoots that develop after one growing season. This should be done on stools set aside for the purpose, as this interferes with the regrowth of the stool and does not fit in well with the coppice cycle.
• Plants can be grown in a nursery from locally gathered seed. See Tree Planting and Aftercare – Propagation for full details.

Careful planning is needed so that there are sufficient plants available to replant at the time of coppicing. New plants must be planted at the same time as the coppice is cut, so that they can get established during the period when light levels are high. To restore neglected coppice, it’s normally necessary to cut all the coppice again after three years, to allow the new plants to produce more stems and grow up strongly with the older coppice stools.

If layering from stools within the coppice (first option above) layering can be done at any of the following three stages in the coppice cycle. Where possible, layers should be pegged down into the gaps which you want to fill, so that the new plants can be left in situ to grow on, without the need for transplanting, which delays establishment. Layers are not always successful, so do at least two layers for every plant you want, to allow for failure.

• Layer before coppicing. Where there is sufficient light and space, for example at the edge of the coppice or in a gap, stems can be layered two or three winters before the coppice is cut. Use sun shoots, which are the thin, vertical shoots found growing from older stems, or whatever younger stems are available. The resulting plants will be ready for replanting as necessary at the time of coppicing.
• Layer at coppicing. At the time of coppicing, a few stems can be left uncut and layered. Try and layer these into the gaps so they can grow on undisturbed for three seasons before being cut with the rest of the coppice in the second cut.
• Layer after coppicing. Where the coppice is very neglected and there are no suitable stems for layering, you will have to wait until the cut stools produce new growth, and then layer first year stems in the winter after coppicing. This is the least efficient option, because these plants, even if grown on in situ, will only be two years old at the time of the second cut, and may struggle to compete. It may be necessary to leave them longer, and do the second cut five years after the first cut.

When transplanting, try to minimise the distance from the mother plants, to retain the original pattern of genotypes within the woodland. Avoid using purchased plants, or plants from another woodland, as these may be of a different genotype to the existing coppice.

Never try and ‘thin out’ a neglected coppice by cutting stools here and there through the wood. This tends to promote the growth of brambles at the expense of other woodland plants, and is not a solution to the problems of shading. Some cut stools die, whilst others expand the fill the space available. The wood remains as shady as before, with fewer but larger trees.

Mark the site of any layering, stooling or transplanting so that the plants can be easily found again. The young plants will need to be weeded and protected against browsing for the first few years, as growth will not be as vigorous as regrowth from older, larger stools.

Stooling

Stooling involves coppicing the stool in the normal way. Then pile earth over the stool, and new shoots will grow with roots formed in the loose soil, making them easy to detach and transplant the following winter.

Layering

Hazel and sweet chestnut respond particularly well to layering, but other species can also be layered successfully. Layering should be done in late winter, and within a few months plenty of new shoots should appear on the layer.

Thin young coppice stems can be layered simply as described below. Larger, less flexible stems need to be partly cut through. Alternatively, use the ‘sun shoots’ on old coppice, which are the thin straight shoots arising from mature coppice stems.

Where possible, use thin, young stems at least 2.7m (9’) tall.

1. Dig a short trench where you want the plant to root.
2. Carefully bend the stem over, and where it meets the trench, remove a strip of bark and underlying wood about 100mm (4”) long.
3. Peg the stem into the trench using wooden pegs (see below), and cover with earth.
4. Cut back the top of the stem to about 150mm (6”) beyond the furthest peg, as this helps stimulate root production.
5. The following autumn, cut the stem to create an independent plant. Transplant as necessary.

Where only older stems are available, use the following procedure:

1. Coppice the stool in the normal way, but leave one or two stems for layering.
2. Using a sharp billhook or bowsaw, cut through the stem at a downward angle away from the stool. Cut in the direction in which you want to lay the stem, making the cut as shown.
   
3. If you cut too far, the stem may break off as it is lowered to the ground, or it may die after layering. If you don’t cut far enough, the stem will split downward into the base as you lower it. When you near the point where you want the cut to stop, gently pull the stem down and to the left top open up the mouth of the cut. Then continue cutting and pulling at the same time until the stem can be eased down to the ground. This may be easier with someone else to guide the stem as you cut.
4. Trim the protruding stub, using a small bowsaw. Begin the cut as low as possible, and slope it upward toward the first cut, so that rain drains away.
5. Mark out the line of the stem along the ground using a spade or mattock. Follow any bends in the stems.
6. Move the stem aside and dig out a trench along the marked line. Dig it deep enough to ensure that bent or whippy stems don’t spring out.
   
7. Some people recommend cutting off or fraying the stem on the underside where you want it to root, but others ignore this step. In either case, position the stem along the trench and peg it down with two pegs facing opposite ways, choosing an ‘elbow’ if possible. Knock in the pegs with a lump hammer.
   
8. Cover the stem with earth (not leaf mould) in the area where you want it to root. Cover it to a depth of 75-150mm (3-6”), and tread the earth firmly around the stem.
9. If you can’t get the stem to lie along the ground, cut a notch in the upperside where it’s closest to the ground, and then heap earth over the notched section.
10. If the layered stem ‘takes’, you can either leave it untouched to grow in place, or you wait 7-12 months and then cut if off from the parent stool for transplanting.

To make pegs to secure layered stems:

1. Select hazel or other stems which have a strong side branch emerging at an acute angle. Cut these off with a saw or billhook, to form rough pegs at least 300mm (1’) long, with crooks about 100mm (4”) long.
2. Trim the pegs on a stump or chopping block. Cut the points in line with the crook, as this makes them less likely to twist when you knock them in.