Burn baby burn

Spent another fantastic weekend in the wood - first on Saturday with my Mum clearing yet more Rhodies from the stream area - can now see the bathroom! Then when the boys turned up later in the day a huge bonfire cleared the majority of the two huge piles of prunings leaving only a small amount to go.
I spent an hour or so remaking one of the canvas beds using stronger, straighter poles, to the point where I debated swapping my own bed for the new one - nice and high off the ground with a much more horizontal sleeping platform, but instead decided to give turning my poles around a go first - glad I did - as it did the trick perfectly.
I also managed to spend a satisfying hour or so clearing brambles and their roots from the northern path and some more from the clearing to at least make a start on getting them under control. Since exposing the ground in the clearing all kinds of plants have germinated and I'd like to keep as much of a variety as possible, but the brambles have to go. There are plenty of them growing along Oogy pass and they taste pretty good too, so taming them to grow where I want them is definitely my preference.
Saturday was the first night round the campfire with most of the camping crew (with the exception of one very valuable member - her pokey fire stick was pretty lonely all night). The rain held off and we were in for a good night's sleep - or at least we would have been if we had gone to bed at a sensible hour! Still it allowed us a lie in until gone 9am which was nice - my sleeping bag and Bivvy combo was well worth the money spent.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed at how quickly things grow and beginning to realise why people resort to Glyphosate to eradicate certain species. It's going to be the only method I think for us to gain control over the Rhodies and soon the brambles. But since it is best to spray in June/July we still have a long way to go with the pruning and burning method before we have to think about getting a knapsack sprayer.
The CPH number arrived from the Forestry Commission too this week and so we have nearly everything we need to write the management plan and submit it with the completed grant application forms.

Visit from the Forestry Commission

A lunch-hour trip to Rais yesterday resulted in a wealth of knowledge from our lovely West Sussex Woodland Officer, Dave Rogers. Very reassuring to know that the work we have done so far is absolutely the right thing we should have been focusing on... Rhodie clearance of course! We wandered down to the clearing camp, taking photos along the way and Dave asking questions about our intentions for the wood. He was impressed with some of the Oaks and agreed the entrance Holly was a great specimen - although he did warn that Holly can spread rapidly if not kept in check.  He offered advice on the best way to get the Rhodies under control and how we are in a good position to obtain a "Woodland Improvement Grant" to help. Rhodies are deemed to destroy the health of woodlands and so financial help is available to those that apply with a written management plan. Dave is going to email me with all the details and instructions for the steps I must take to get there. The first step is to apply for an "SBI" number, then a "CPH" number which will allow me to register the land with the Rural Payment Agency (RPA). Sounds complicated, but promising at the same time.
Next Dave pointed out the Alder Carr, which he says would be good for making charcoal should we wish to, it also coppices really well which is something we should consider after the Rhodies have been tamed to allow light to the woodland floor and give the wildflowers a chance to shine.
It was also news to me that there are apparently 6 or so different species of Ash in this country, a few of which we have, including one that he was unable to identify, so he took a twig and some leaves to get a better idea back at the commission.
He advised on the Ash tree which has grown into a Rowan and how perhaps there is a chance we can still save the Rowan if we employ the services of an experienced tree surgeon who is willing to section up the offending branch and bring it down safely.
He also made me realise that the water courses that are at the bottom of ravine type formations that we have been referring to as streams are actually known as Ghylls. We clearly have so much to learn! but thankfully I feel a renewed confidence and enthusiasm for the Rhodie clearance now - it seems that working in sections, starting with hand cutting, and pulling the roots out where we can, then cutting them down to size is definitely the best way to do it and certainly the most ecologically sound. Unfortunately this will not destroy them and the best way to do that is to invest in some industrial strength glyphosate (Round Up) and a knapsack sprayer which we can wander round spraying the regrowth with next June. Hopefully by then we will have some grant money to help as the size of the infestation we have at Rais is not going to be cheap.

The Covenant

This is designed to ensure that the owner and subsequent owners do not use the wood for anything which would be a nuisance to neighbouring woodland owners such as vehicle racing, or anything noisy or smelly. It also prevents subsequent division of the ownership of the wood into smaller units or erection of signboards.
Wording of the covenant (or "legal promise") for the transfer
The purchaser hereby covenants with the vendor that the land shall not be used in such a way as to create a nuisance to the neighbouring owners (including the vendor) and specifically the purchasers shall not, and not permit others to:
do any rough or game shooting or pest control at times or in a manner constituting a nuisance or danger to any neighbour;
use the land or access tracks for any sort of racing whether with motor bikes, cars or other vehicles;
use the land for a commercial campsite;
use the land for clay pigeon shooting;
conduct any business from the land apart from forestry or agriculture;
use the land in a way which will damage the access tracks.
The purchaser and successors in title shall not erect any signboards visible from the public highway
The purchaser and successors in title shall not sell the land except as a whole specifically not in such a way that it could be registered in separate titles or in separate ownerships.

Summer days

So so busy, both at work and up the wood - just haven't had time to update anything! but basically the last month has seen a lot of rain, a lot of wind and even more sun, which has all resulted in monumental growth at Rais; the bracken is now 9 feet tall in places, the brambles are threatening to take over the clearing and the heavily-hacked Rhodies are already bouncing back with new growth! but on the bright side, the camera has caught some new visitors in the form of foxes, a scruffy-looking juvenile pheasant (we think) and a very large Tawny owl.
The water mint has gone mad and smells gorgeous - haven't brewed any tea with it yet, but have plans to stay over next weekend and so may give it a go.
This weekend the boys stayed overnight through yet another torrential downpour but instead of making a temporary shelter, they created two more "A" frame beds with a tarp over top which was a huge improvement on the last experience for them.
The boys and I spent about 4 hours Friday afternoon turning sun-baked raw clay into something that resembles soggy modelling clay which will hopefully have dried out enough to use next weekend. As a result of pounding the clay by hand to break it up I now have extremely painful thumbs and have split the skin under my nails on just about every finger on both hands - not a good look for attendance at a big family wedding yesterday.
Rain (and of course the wedding hangover) stopped play today as hurricane "Bertha" skirted Sussex bringing strong winds and plenty of miserable drizzle. Thankfully we cleared the stream again under toad bridge and so things should flow freely once more. Hope to find time to start work on the upstream section next weekend which is overgrown with brambles and will require serious protective gear - it's only a short stretch, maybe 25 metres, to get round the corner to Holly bridge, but there's a large fallen dead Birch which will make life quite difficult until we can remove it.
Raymond (the landrover) has undergone some serious renovation over the last month with a repairs to rust holes, door frames and dashboard and a new paint job.

I have started to try and take note of the butterflies I see too, not an easy task as they never keep still for very long in the sunshine and of course they don't come out in the rain. This first one is a Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) and was in and around the thistles where I park the car.
So from my pocket guide to butterflies of Britain and Ireland, I can tell you that you won't find this particular species in the Shetland Islands, it has a long flight period, and the first males start to appear in May - most abundantly around the chalk downlands of Sussex. We should see them well into October and they are one of the few butterflies that can also been seen flying on overcast days. They also like to feed on bramble flowers which explains why I have seen so many at Rais.