What are we doing in July?
We camped last night - brilliant!
and then we did some more track repair and moved some firewood down out of the wood where it is easier to cut and extract. Lovely being able to do it when the ground is hard and dry.
Could do with some rain though!
July in the wood
(20 posts)-
Posted 2 months ago #
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Yeah we're very dry up here on the edge of Ashdown forest as well! Seem to be fighting to keep deer out of the coppice, I always knew they could jump the 2metre tenax fence at a push, but they seem to be doing it for fun now, must be pressure of numbers. It's all a bit disheatening to see the damage just one deer can do in a couple of hours :-(
On the brighter side, our squirrel control is paying off and we're getting cherries and mulberries for the first time near the cottage, might even get some hazelnuts if we're lucky:-)
Rich
Posted 2 months ago # -
Rich, have you seen the deer jump over? We had a deer get inside the Tenex last year, munched every thing. I found the deer in there and it pushed underneath to get back out. might be a good idea to peg it to the ground?
Posted 2 months ago # -
Hi Darren,
Yeah that's what I thought was happening at first, and to be honest at first, I think some did get in that way, especially the smaller ones. So last week I went round and pegged the fence to the ground all the way around. Blow me if I didn't go down there the day after and staring me straight in the eye was a huge stag, once it had made it's point it took a bit of a run up and leapt the fence with ease!It's not devasted the regrowth, but they seem to have gone mostly for the hazel and strangely the birch and alder which I thought they didn't like so much. The chestnut has been mostly left.
Rich
Posted 2 months ago # -
Sounds like you have the Steve McQueen of deers there.
All I could suggest is a couple of lines of wire one and two foot above the tenax. Maybe with some ribbon to make it clearly visible to the deer.
Posted 2 months ago # -
yeah you might be on to something, last year I used a heavier grade tenax which is more visible, maybe that puts them off trying to leap? This year I used a lighter grade which is marketed as 'low visibility'. Perhaps they don't perceive this as such a barrier, when I looked round it last night I could see areas where they've obviously had trouble and stretched and in some parts broken the nylon mesh.
Think I might move out there in this fine weather!Rich
Posted 2 months ago # -
Hi Rich
I'm lucky living where I do in that most years we have very few deer problems. When it has been bad though we found that if you angle the fencing towards the deer (i.e. towards the outside of the enclosure)so that the top of the fence is nearer to them than the bottom, it makes a more effective barrier. It's a royal pain to put up but the illusion of width it creates as well as the height seems to do the trick. Obviously it's not 100% effective but it is significantly better, and more than makes up for the extra hassle in errecting it.
For the odd ones that do get over you have to have a few earth mounds on the inside of the fence, scattered around the enclosure, to enable them to get back over easily - this reduces residence time and damage within the enclosure - and reduces likelihood of damage to the angled fence from the inside when they're trying to get back out.
Does that make sense the way I've explained it?Posted 2 months ago # -
How high is your Tenax fence?
Posted 2 months ago # -
Went around the paths with the tractor and a pallet tied behind to clear the bracken.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Great idea Darren! I spend ages flailing them down but of course flattening them like you suggest would be just as effective. I'll definitely be giving it a try next time.
Do you add any weight to the top of the pallet?Posted 2 months ago # -
Just the weight of the pallet does the job. I then turn around and go the other way to really mash them up.
Make sure you only tie it in the middle of the pallet because if you hit a stump etc it will turn around it rather than getting stuck.Posted 2 months ago # -
The problem with fencing the deer out is that they will go destroy trees or crops next door. If the numbers of deer are that high it's time to call in a deer stalker.
If anyone needs a contact let me know and I can put you in touch with a responsible, insured stalker in your area.
As a woodland owner you are legally allowed to shoot deer with a 12g shotgun using specific cartridges, size AAA shot, but I would only consider this as a last resort where an animal was trapped or injured and suffering. Much better to get an experienced stalker to do it humanely with a rifle.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Thanks Stephen,
Angling the fence post sounds like a good idea, but as I've already put it up I think I'll try something less strenuous:-) Lion dung and human hair are reportedly good deterrants, unfortunately neither of which do I have in particularly large quantities!
I do have a load of brash which might help if I stack it up along the perimeter, still sounds strenuous though. Has anyone tried silver foil trays tied to the netting? They might just swing around sort of spookily...... straw clutchingly!
We are also thinking of the shooting option, but here on the edge of Ashdown Forest, I'm not sure anything but a highly organised cull by the ranger service would make any impact.
Rich
Posted 2 months ago # -
I was thinking of something simliar to the siver tin. Blank CD's spinning might put them off.
Phil Collins CD's will work better ;)Posted 2 months ago # -
Thinning Scotts Pine. Felled a tree about 15 inches in diameter, went over in the right direction, but the canopy got hung up. Tried everything to move it, trimming hinge, stump, cant hook etc, but to no avail. Went back to the Land Rover for lunch. 50 yards away I heard the occasional cracking of dead branches. The frequency gradualy increased, followed by a almighty crash. A few days later exactly the same thing happened. I guess chewing over the problem was the best solution.
Posted 2 months ago # -
So far all I've managed in July is to fit some bat boxes. If I can get some spare time and reasonable weather I'll try and contunue the battle toopen up the footpath and tracks some more ... may even get to try my new pole saw.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Well, July has been busy for us. We have held a camp and BBQ for our friends at the wood - had 28 visitors and overnight 18 were staying, including two hammock tents. We had a camp-fire, cooked damper, as well as BBQ-ing loads of different stuff, and drinking quite a lot of beverages.
We also had one of the most exciting open days in the history of the wood, although none of it was down to us. One of our visitors brought a young dog on a lead - we discourage dogs, and put signs everywhere that they must be kept on a short lead, and this dog was on a good lead with a chest harness. Except the dog slipped its lead from the owner's hand, and got into next-door's sheep. Fortunately the sheep were not harmed, but this led to a certain amount of commotion, and not surprisingly an angry neighbour.
Stephen went in to apologise to the neighbour and the owner of the dog had given details in case any of the sheep needed vet bills, or died of shock after the event. While he was there, three cows had got over from the far side of the canal (well, they fell in the canal and the fire brigade put them back on the wrong side). They got into the same neighbour's horse paddock causing one of the larger horses to panic. Stephen and the stable lad were trying to get it into the stable, but it slipped its rein and ran off down the road. I heard a horse trotting, and saw it had no rider, so tried to head it off and get it into the wood, where it could calm down in relative safety. It did slow down but more traffic meant that the horse was spooked again. Various people were running around trying to slow the traffic, and catch the horse, which finally stopped in a wheat field opposite (yet another annoyed farmer!).
Meanwhile the cows were still loose, although I didn't know this until I was taking a group round and the cow man asked if I'd seen any cows. I hadn't at that stage, but a bit further down, there were two cows in our ditch. We herded them to the corner of the field that we thought had a good fence and impenetrable hedge - WRONG! They got through the hedge and over the road to trample yet more of the poor farmer's wheat crop, and headed for the golf course.
The cows have remained at large for most of this week, although two were found on Wednesday night, one at a local nature reserve in Tamworth and the other at the marina on the canal. The third (a big, mean one) is still missing. It was in our woods on Tuesday night, but there has been no sign of it since, and in particular no new hoof prints by our ponds, where it was drinking.
Now I use the woods for fitness classes, and because it is rather a mean beast, I have to check the woods thoroughly before using it for each class. It takes about 30 minutes to walk round and check thoroughly, so I've had to put in a lot of extra work this week. We'll be glad when it gets home.
Then, of course, as mentioned in a different thread, we have had an offer accepted on adjacent 9.3 acres of field to add to our woodland.
You really couldn't make it up. It has been like the keystone cops at times, with land rovers and people running round all over the place!
Posted 1 month ago # -
I think I'll stick to being a tree shepherd.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Well, we think the cow has been located and is now no longer near our woods - the stable lad works at the farm where I buy my chicken bedding and told me they'd found it. The local agricultural grapevine is working quite well.
I hope we have a really very quiet weekend in the woods this week!
Posted 1 month ago # -
Yeah, I prefer trees, they move around less!
Posted 1 month ago #
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