Coppicing derelict hazel for firewood 2022 - starting work.

Описание: This year I'm going to try to show the process of one guy cutting approximately 6 tonnes of cordwood out of an area of derelict hazel in a Dorset Ancient woodland. This area has not been cut for around 50 years and the idea is that it will re-grow well enough to be sold as a standing crop at 7 years, with proceeds going to the owner of the land. This is the traditional way of managing hazel coppice and has been done in the UK for centuries.
I cut derelict hazel as firewood: in my view hazel is very underrated as fuel and the material we see is 'worth' nothing as a standing crop and very little at roadside - certainly not enough to make it worthwhile for a contractor to cut a small area. Small areas (1-5 acres linked by rides) are the optimum for plants, insects and birds adapted to the coppice cycle. My home has no central heating so I rely on a wood burner and I like burning hazel - it is dense, has good calorific value and produces little ash. Firewood is my crop, a workmanlike job of the cutting and the head hedges is what I 'pay' the owner for the firewood. The continued survival of ancient hazel stools and the nature conservation improvements that come with good coppice are my satisfaction.
For regrowth of the hazel stools to be successful, dead hedges are needed to stop the deer (roe and abundant Sika) from browsing the regrowth and damaging the stools, killing trees that may be many decades or even centuries old in some instances.
Usually I expend as little effort as possible and drop as many of the un-usable stem tops on the line of the dead hedges. This year, I will be dead hedging an area which my neighbours cut 3 winters ago and did not protect the stools, which the deer have hit hard so that they may not survive without protection. This will require me to move brash to make a section of hedge, so extra effort. I'm sure it will be worth it. I makes the area to be cut easier to see, but in timelapse footage I might end up as a little orange geezer in the far distance, Go-Pros being what they are.
So, this is me starting work - about 2 hours worth with the temperature around freezing and one tank of fuel for the saw.
If you want to see the same area back in September, with last year's cant with regrowth in full leaf. go here:    • Derelict hazel coppice in October. looking...