more Coppice Woodsman

 That coppicing is an ancient practice there can be little doubt. The Sweet Track in Somerset, dated at roughly 4000 BC, contains recognisable coppice wood, evidence of the coppicing of oak, ash and hazel. By medieval times the coppice system was already a long established form of woodland management and an integral part of the social background of the times. The decline of coppicing was due to a complex of social and political factors; the rise in labour costs, introduction of cheap coal and the lack of modernisation and organisation in woodmanship. As time went on coppice rotations tended to lengthen and became more strictly adhered to, whilst recent centuries saw an increasing regularity in the shape of coppice panels. All symptoms of a decreasing flexibility, once inherent in coppice management, and overall lack of interest. The retreat began in the north and even today the few woods still managed as coppice are found in the south and east. With few exceptions, such as the coppicing of sweet chestnut for chestnut paling, coppicing is now no longer commercially viable. The recent slight revival is mainly due to conservation interests - preceding any organised, economic use as yet. The major threats to coppice continue to be coniferisation and agriculture. To the forester or farmer a coppice is simply waste, something to be converted to arable land or under planted with conifers. Equally destructive is simple neglect, though a coppice wood can be restored even after 100 years without having been touched.

So why do we coppice?
The medieval woodsman would perhaps have known and appreciated the wildlife associated with coppice woods more intimately than we can ever hope to do. For him, however, coppicing was a way of making a living, it produced a product that was useful to society, above all a product that could be sold.

Yet to the conservationist, it is the wildlife "spin off", the rich flora and fauna, that is the main reason for maintaining a frankly uneconomic and labour intensive process today. Coppicing gives a wood an immense variety of structure, encouraging species once restricted to rides or the wood edge. All stages in growth are present from the newly felled area to the closed canopy of young trees. The recently cut panel mimics a woodland glade, the sudden increase in light promoting a flush of woodland flowers, bluebell, wood anemone, primrose and violets, all important for a great many insects. As the shrubs grow, other species move in; nightingales prefer 4 to 9 year old re-growth and a high density of essentially scrub-breeding birds such as whitethroat, blackcap and garden warbler can be maintained.

This is the key to its richness; within the space of one small woodland coppice management can provide something to suit all tastes.