Welcome to the woodland equivalent of a desk job! Woodland work is generally pretty active, so now and then, there’s a lot to be said for a job you can do without leaving your seat.
This week Steve & Helen took the tractor out along the shared track through Howes Wood, flail mower mounted up front, gently trimming back the verges before the summer’s growth gets the upper hand and starts to eradicate the path.
All smiles before setting off Steve at the wheel, with Helen Butler MBE riding shotgun.
When strolling along a well maintained woodland track it can be easy to forget how much upkeep is needed to maintain it, until, that is, you see it from this angle.
At this time of year, bramble and bracken don’t take long to reach across from one side of the path to the other when left unattended, and start grabbing at ankles (or worse, snagging on wheelbarrows).
The best way to keep on top of this is a regular trim to keep the shared track clear and welcoming for everyone who uses it, walkers, volunteers, and the odd red squirrel making a dash across.
A tractor’s-eye view of the shared track
As Steve and Helen will happily tell you, cutting back the track with the help of a tractor is the ultimate armchair woodland job. There’s generally no need to even get out of the cab!
Compare that to the rest of the wood, where in spite of this summer’s drought, the thriving brambles and other fast-growing plants have kept the shears-wielding volunteers among us endlessly busy. Dry weather or not, nature clearly has no plans to take a break over the summer and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Caption: Onward along the track, another stretch tamed and tidy.
There’s even an extra silver lining to the dry spell: the brambles may be growing fast, but they’re also fruiting early, and the first blackberries are already appearing along the woodland edges. That’s an unexpected juicy bonus for our red squirrels, who’ll happily take advantage of the extra food on offer before autumn’s proper mast season begins.
All of this to say, that between Steve keeping the track clear from the comfort of the tractor seat and the rest of the team battling brambles by hand elsewhere in the wood, Howes Wood is looking well cared for from every angle.
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