Norfolk Conservation Corps - More Information

The History of the Corps: The Story So Far, Volume 3
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In coppiced woodland, the sunlight can reach the ground all summer for the first few years after the coppice has been harvested, so other plants can come in, seeds always being on the wind, looking for suitable places on which to make a landing. Insects are also often on the wing, so, if new plants come into the woodlands, insects which feed on those plants will also come in.

Similarly, birds which feed on insects will also come in in greater numbers, there now being more insects available. Birds will also increase in number simply because of the new openness of the wood. Birds, in general, do not actually like woodland very much. Even so-called woodland birds tend to use the edges of the wood and rides and tracks which go through the woods, rather than the body of the wood, and coppicing creates more woodland edge, and more apparent and very big rides, thus improving things for the birds.

After a few years, though, everything changes. The point about coppicing is that every tree cut down originally produces many new shoots from just below the coppicing cut, so the regrowth is much more overcrowded than the original trees. This means that the new growth grows tall and straight, reaching for the light, thereby producing nice, straight poles for use when harvested, but the overcrowding means that, when the new growth has reached a certain height and thickness, the woodland floor is shaded throughout the year, not just as originally, in full summer.

This shading does not matter, however, because, in every managed woodland, these are always other areas in different parts of the seven-year, ten-year, fifteen-year, or whatever cycle is being used. If coppicing ceases to be carried out, however, that is very bad news for the woodland and its wildlife.

In Wayland Wood, for example, coppicing ceased around 1940, so the coppice regrowth was forty or more years old by 1980, was very thick and there was almost nothing growing on the woodland floor. Fortunately, on January 6th, 1980, seven members of the Norfolk Conservation Corps went to Wayland Wood and began the reinstatement of the coppice.

In Honeypot Wood, there was a different kind of problem. Here the coppiced wood had been purchased for many years by Anglian Water, who used the material in river maintenance, but Anglian Water used to harvest the entire wood in one year, the relevant area only being twenty-one acres. The whole wood would then be left for seven years until the next harvest, again of the whole wood, so even the woodland specialist species were having a hard time in Honeypot Wood, the woodland floor being shaded for the whole year for perhaps half of each seven-year cycle.

Fortunately, the wood was purchased by the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust, so the management could be put back onto a proper seven-year rotation system, and, on 17th September, 1989, the Norfolk Conservation Corps came to Wendling and began coppicing Honeypot Wood.

Coppicing has been going on for six thousand years and the wildlife has adapted to it, but, as you can see, for the wildlife to survive, coppicing has to continue to be carried out in just the same way as before for the next six thousand years and preferably longer, so keep up the good work as you've done very well so far. Also, come out more often. Time flies when you're having fun, so six thousand years will soon pass.

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