TIMBER !!

Recent storms have really soaked the ground in Crow Wood; so much so that there is now much standing water and a winter stream flowing through. The rain has filled a series of curious excavations at the southern edge of the wood which form a kind of semi circle. Way back in 2006 a field archaeologist surveyed Old Park Wood and she thought the excavations could well be practice WW1 trenches, although as yet we have not been able to find any documentary evidence so the idea must remain professional conjecture. 

The gusts of strong wind brought down a number of trees but nothing too serious except for an old dead Scots Pine which was snapped off at height and remained tangled up in neighbouring trees, where it posed a risk to anyone passing near. We decided that the job of getting the tree down was potentially dangerous and needed the assistance of an expert tree surgeon with a winch.  Rich of Weald Woodscapes knows our wood well and was our first point of call. He had also recently made and installed a wonderful sculpture for us, which was too close to the damaged pine for our comfort.

the broken pine

Rich's first attempt with the winch failed to shift it but a change in the direction of pull finally did it and with a crack and small explosion of sawdust and timber fragments the top half was down on the ground and could be chopped into firewood. The pine looked like it had been dying for some time and was rotting from the ground upwards, the blue tint in the timber a sign of a fungal attack at some point in its 50 or so years of growing. These Scots Pines had been planted sometime in the 1960s or 70s as a cash crop destined for the paper mill at St Pauls Cray, long closed. They have never been thinned out or harvested  and a few are now prone to storm damage. Even in death this pine will have many a use - it makes good firewood, the stacked brash will provide a home for wildlife and the main trunk has been left standing for the woodpeckers to enjoy.

Standing water in what might be WW1 trenches

Rich operating the winch

the moment of breaking....

....and fall

a section through the tree with growth rings and a tell tale blue stain

Our Crow Wood totem is safe..........well done Rich, sculptor and tree surgeon extraordinaire

the trunk left standing for our woodpeckers