I’ve done it again. Last time I looked it was February, but it has been a busy time of year with a lot to get done on the Lynchmere commons and despite my best of intentions posting on the blog just doesn’t seem to get a high enough priority. Time to make up for that now.
Our winter work gets busier as the season progresses. With a cutoff at the start of March for the bird nesting season it’s hard work through February and I spend a lot of time in the office looking out of the window.
Ok, so this office has wheels, big wheels and a crane – and a heater that functions sometimes – though it’s not a lot of use as not all of the windows have glass in them, but it is about the only time of year that I get to work in a heated environment and look out of the window. If you have to use big machinery then February is probably the best time of year to do it as it’s too cold to work on my polelathe!
Like many offices the view from the back window is a little bit more industrial! This office is rather less than ergonomically designed being a relatively old timber tractor. Definitely no disabled access, which I need after a couple of weeks ot twisting to operate the timber crane controls and jumping down from the (missing) steps. But its the only way to get the work done.
This timber has been cut to thin out woodland areas, improving the remaining timber, the wildlife habitat and the heathland areas of the commons. Most of it is Scots Pine, a native softwood, which has self seeded on the heath and has little commercial value. In this country we don’t rate softwood as firewood (unlike much of norther Europe) But this will be going to a nearby biomass boiler at a local school which means that as well as improving the commons habitat the felled timber will be travelling almost no distance (timber miles) and helping to reduce fossil fuel usage, which seems a Win-Win to me.
In February I don’t just have one office! Here’s the view from another office window and this office does have glass in all its windows – at the moment. Not such a pleasant sight though, as this forest of evergreen is Western Hemlock which is selfseeding rapidly onto our carefully cleared heath areas from a Forestry Commission adjacent site. Western Hemlock is not a native species and is classed as an invasive alien which it certainly is! We pull the small seedlings by hand but larger ones need a more industrial solution.
Cue the view from the back of the office – with a mower on steroids that keeps the Hemlock at bay!
It doesn’t always go according to plan with machinery and sometimes the weather, landscape and trees bite back and damage my office infrastructure. It would be a rare winter when I don’t suffer some form of breakage. The steering arms on this landrover have been modified for me. They should be straight not U-shaped and wrapped around the axle!
Now it’s March our struggle with heavy machinery on the commons is over for another year and I have the aches and bruises to remember it by. I’m looking forward to largely working by hand with billhook, axe, scythe and of course my polelathe over the coming spring and summer.
Woodlandantics Blog 