A great turn out of 29 for CD2.which must be a record number of cutters for a coppicing day , yielded 440 binders and 330 stakes, which given the overstood nature of the hazel was a brilliant result.
The day started off with a briefing from Tim and teams of 3 or 4 were then allocated areas. Peter was assigned fire making duties and soon put his wafter into good use.
With the coppice being worked on on a number of fronts, we soon had 5 well controlled bonfires going burning the vast amount of brush that was being produced. Experienced and novice cutters mucked in and stuck to their tasks well and collaborative working was the order of the day
Due to recent rain the ground was very muddy and the hoped for high quantities of stakes and binders were just not there, as the landowner had in the past stopped the Society coppicing , resulting in much overstood hazel.
Never the less all attendees enjoyed themselves , even if some had car / van difficulties. Always good to see new members turn up and they were made most welcome.
Plenty of sustenance was provided with hot soup, pork pie and hot drinks , which went down well.
Many thanks to all those who turned up- may had travelled hours to get there and some had taken a day off from work.
Hearteningly and many thanks to Tim,some of the stakes and binders have already been transported to the site of Improver's Day on 8 January.
CD2 was another well run event for the Society and will pay dividends in the years to come when we get some decent quantities of product out of Blunts Wood. Regrowth from previous years is exceptional.
Matthew Beard
31.12.21
ps Seasons totals so far from CD1 and CD2:-
Stakes 790
Binders 980
Excellent efforts from all attendees- we had a total of 51 turn up to coppicing days in 2021