Jan 21 SWOG meeting – Hendall Wood, 21st April By

SWOG Open Day Saturday 21 April – 10.30 to 1.30pm
Hendall Wood, Heron’s Ghyll, East Sussex

Two adjacent parts of Hendall Wood are open, courtesy of Duncan & Bridget Ferns and Penny and Rich Hare.

Duncan & Bridget Ferns family bought their 52 acres in two-halves, the first in 2004 and the second in 2006.   It is Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) with a seasonal stream, carpets of anemones and bluebells, areas of orchids and many archaeological features surveyed by Wealden Iron Research Group (8 pits, 15 or so charcoal platforms and a couple of likely sawpits). The east end of the wood is coppiced sweet chestnut, split into 8 cants.

“We are now in the fourth year of coppicing cants of 0.5-1 acre.  Extraction has been by the low-impact ‘Iron Horse’ machine with caterpillar tracks, and mowing we use a BSC power-scythe, both of which we hope will be demonstrated.   Deer browsing is a serious issue, despite fencing, and deer management has started during 2011-12.   The majority of the woodland is being left as ‘wildwood’ of mature ash, hornbeam with beech and oak standards”.

Richard and Penny’s adjacent wood is the northern spur of Hendall wood and about 11 acres in size. The woodland shares a lot of the features and history of the main part of the wood (charcoal platforms and a sawpit) and is slowly being restored to a working wood.

“We have found mention of the wood as far back as the 1500’s, Hendall was one of the gateways to the Ashdown Forest, and derived from the word for a ‘hind’ presumably a hind deer.

We have been actively managing the wood for about 4 years now, coppicing and opening up a ride.  The main problem as with anywhere close to the Ashdown Forest is the pressure of deer numbers.  These have proved almost impossible to keep out of the newly coppiced cants, however they definitely have an order of preference for certain species.  Oak, hornbeam and hazel tends to get browsed the hardest, whilst chestnut and alder is left relatively unscathed”.

If you would like to attend the meeting, please email: tracy@woodlands.co.uk , full details will be sent out nearer the time.