Gabriel standing on a footpath covered in beige coloured fluff

Have you figured it out?  Look above Gabriel’s head and you’ll notice the overhanging branches of great big beech trees. Their fluffy flowers have spilled out all over the place.

Beech flowers piled up in the gutters in Boyle

You may have noticed similar near where you live.  The ground under the big beech tree down at the Cabin is also covered with flowers.  In my last post I spoke about ash seeds generally needing 18 months to germinate, but with beech it is the following Spring.  Get ready to start weeding beech seedlings out of the garden next spring!

Close up of beech flowers spilling their pollen onto the footpath.

It’s a fabulous time of the year. And this year, after the great big freeze of the winter months, the trees seem to be celebrating in every possible way. To see this kind of abundance being expressed so freely in the world of trees is such a reminder that ‘the economy’ is only one aspect of life

An abundant display of ash seeds in October 2008

Ash seeds generally take 18 months to germinate, so do the sums, – it’s now 18 months on. How exciting is that?

Look about you and I’m sure you’ll see those little ash seeds of October 2008 now sprouting up all over the place as perfect little ash seedlings. In their millions!

They're coming up in my wood-chipped garden paths;

They’re coming up in their thousands throughout the mowed grassy path down to the lake;

They’re pushing up through the long grass;

And of course they’re popping up all over the forest floor.  Ash seedlings, in their countless millions across the whole country, offering a future to Irish Forestry that has never been more timely.  They carry the potential of creating beautiful, uniquely Irish landscapes as well as supplying a range of timbers from superb, top of the range firewood right through to prime quality, attractive joinery timber, not to mention the lucrative hurley market that is still largely supplied to Ireland from Holland and Wales.

Ash doesn’t grow easily as a monoculture ‘crop’ but seems to lend itself to self- seeding and growing up through mixed forests in groups or patches. Many sitka spruce plantations would be ideal pioneer forests, if thinned skillfully, to bring in valuable ash trees.

Young self-sown tree heading for the light in a sitka spruce plantation.

While I was down at the Cabin woods photographing the seedlings on the woodland floor, I noticed I wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on them:

A big fat hare checking out the proliferation of ash seedlings.

Our woodlands are managed with plenty of ‘wild’ areas, so losing ash seedlings to hares is something we have learned to live with.  But with so many seedlings coming up like weeds this year, there will be plenty for everyone.

Having always sought out wild places and forests where nature is allowed to thrive, I’ve never really been one to tour landscaped gardens and parks. But I can tell you that, while in hospital, I came to really appreciate the beauty of the surrounding flowers, shrubs and trees in the grounds of Beaumont.

Landscaped area at the entrance to Beaumont hospital

During all that wonderful weather in the month of April, I loved getting out into the air each day and watching Spring unfold through all the beautiful flowers and trees. From my bed by the window in the early mornings I watched a gull building its nest in a sheltered corner on the roof below and the tips of birch trees slowly opening out into delicate green leaves. My favourite of all was a massive lone oak tree just to the left of the hospital building.

A fond farewell to the big oak tree the day before I left the hospital.

So I’m back!  Thanks to those who’ve been patiently waiting for some sort of response to emails and comments on this blog and for all your well wishes.

I was fascinated to watch the way frost builds up tiny, glistening layers over the twigs.

Little circles of warmth beneath the evergreen Douglas fir trees dotted through the Cabin Woods create access to a leafy food source for birds in an otherwise frozen, white environment.

The bird feeder is a popular spot when all else is frozen solid.

But the ground feeding birds need hedges and trees to find their food.

A wagtail and a blackbird feeding and sheltering under the hedge during harsh, frozen weather.

……. And little patches of wildness…..

This is where the humble bramble really proves its worth. Just look at the shelter offered for small mammals and birds under this patch of bramble.

Our 'little' bullock setting off on an adventure down along the hedgerow to the frozen lake.

A frozen scene down at the lake edge.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The Pro Silva group in discussion in the forest at Baronscourt, County Tyrone

The long awaited visit of Pro Silva Ireland (PSI) to Baronscourt Estate near Newtownstewart, County Tyrone was well worth the wait. In keeping with PSI tradition, two foreign experts were invited over to Ireland to join us on the day.  Brice De Turckheim, a forest owner and forester with many years of experience in close-to-nature management and one of the founding members of Pro Silva Europe , came from Alsace on France’s eastern border adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. Phil Morgan is an independent forest manager from Wales and works with Selectfor. He is an active member of Pro Silva Europe through the CCFG in the UK and he is forestry consultant at Baronscourt. Phil is a fluent French speaker and translated for Brice on the day. Between them Brice and Phil fielded our many questions with such clarity and the ease that comes with years of time spent in forests.

Sitka spruce regeneration moving in after severe wind throw 8 years ago.

Baronscourt has been the home of the Duke of Abercorn’s family since 1612. The Estate woodlands extend to approximately 1,450 hectares of which approximately 300 hectares are leased to the NI Forest Service and the remainder are managed in-hand by the Estate’s Head Forester, Jim Simpson. In 2001, following a trip with Pro Silva Ireland to Lower Saxony, it was decided to discontinue clear-felling the in-hand woodlands and instead transform to continuous-cover/close-to-nature. A quarter of these woodlands are now thinned each year and the stops included visits to woodlands that have been thinned twice with the intention of retaining tree cover in perpetuity. The presence of Japanese sika deer and Rhododendron ponticum provide significant management issues and lengthy discussions ensued on the day.

Brice De Turckheim arrived in the dark the night before.  He needed only a few minutes to observe his surroundings at the first stop before answering questions. His first observation was that ‘this is a wind-managed forest’. One of the main deciding factors of the Estate to change their management to ccf/close-to-nature was the incidence of windthrow in their even-aged conifer plantations.

Notice the size variation of the regeneration. You can imagine how much more stable this forest is becoming as its structure is allowed to develop.

While Baronscourt is predominantly made up of ‘sensible sitka’ at present, the owners are not attached to trying to keep the estate as pure sitka.  As broadleaves seed into the forest, they are favoured because they are so in the minority. But that will change over time. Ultimately it is quality of timber and forest health that will guide the forest management here.

This area, originally planted with Scots pine, was hit by Hurricane Debbie in 1964. Southern beech, birch, oak have seeded in.

The presence of deer is a big issue at Baronscourt, especially of course for the broadleaved species.  Some areas have been fenced to exclude the deer and here we see again the reality of what the presence of high deer numbers in a forest effects:

Lush regeneration of many species happily growing inside the deer exclusion fence while outside the fence is bare.

As at many of the forest trips organized by Pro Silva in Ireland, the subject of log sizes came up.  In ccf/close-to-nature management the aim is to only fell large trees, as they are worth more and of course the overall increment of the forest is higher. The Irish sawmills have adapted to suit what is offered for sale, so in Ireland what is offered is small dimension (by European standards) logs.  Estate Manager Robert Scott told us that they are lucky to have a mill nearby that operates a ban saw and can take large logs.

Brice gave a wonderful response to this subject.  He said that man has no control over nature but has control over technology.  (You simply can’t argue with that statement.) Therefore adapt the technology to both serve the forest and to harvest timber wisely.  Growers must create big trees and then the mills will sort out the technology needed to mill them. Foresters need to have vision for the future to grow big trees, he said.  If you harvest small trees you must harvest in larger groups and the larger the group the less diversity comes to the forest. So there is less disturbance to the forest if you just select the large trees and then the forest becomes more stable and less at risk of wind. There were many wonderful such offerings from Brice and Phil during the day as they shared their knowledge and experience with us.

From left: Estate Manager (and former Chairman of PSI) Robert Scott, Phil Morgan, Brice De Turckheim and Baronscourt Forest Manager Jim Simpson

I love that Pro Silva brings to Ireland foresters from countries where there is an unbroken forestry culture for hundreds of years. We are just beginning to grow a forest culture here and need to somehow develop this long term view.  We cannot do that on our own. We need the help of others who have the culture, the tradition and the knowledge.

We stopped at another forest area where the wind had felled a huge gap in 1998, leaving only a few large trees still standing.   I remembered fondly when PSI had it’s first forest trip to Baronscourt in 2001 when our guests had been Prof. Hans Jurgen Otto from Lower Saxony and Talis Kalnars, now deceased, from Wales.  At that time this site was bare of trees and the question from Robert Scott and Jim Simpson was ‘Do we plant?’  A resounding ‘No!’ had been the reply from our two foreign experts. ‘Just wait and see what comes in.’  I remember us all looking doubtfully at this huge area of bare, grassy ground.

The same area, 8 years later, is now thick with wind-firm self sown trees.

But here it is eight years later, teeming with bright young self-sown trees.

Brice and Phil spoke about the importance of keeping the remaining tall trees. They are the strong ones that withstood the storm winds.  Their presence will help with the stability of the entire forest into the future. You must manage for diversity and continue to be directed by the forest itself, he said.

On our way back to our cars, we stopped on a high place to recap on the day.  Looking out over the increasingly diverse and lush forest landscapes that is Baronscourt Estate we could see in the distance forests managed by the Forest Service. They had a sad, almost agricultural appearance with their tall crop of sitka offering up such enormous potential, and the tell tale bare ground of the clearfelling practice that will soon sweep them all away.

Meanwhile in the background, the 'same old same old' of even aged conifers carve up the landscapes with their hard lines as they wait to be felled completely.

We received a warm welcome and wonderful hospitality from the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn. I couldn’t really find the words to express to them the significance of the step they and their son Lord Hamilton, have made in this leap of faith eight years ago to try something that had not been tried here. They didn’t do it in a nervous, small way.  They saw the sense of it through the trips with Pro Silva and they took up the recommendations and applied them to the whole forest estate. It is wonderful to see, and we’re told we’re welcome back, so look out for future PSI visits there over the years.

I can’t finish this post without mention of the Pushkin Trust project that the Duchess has been working on since its launch in 1987. Trust endeavours to unite children, their parents and educators, north and south, in the common bond of creativity. Take a look on the link, – it is so inspiring.

The Pushkim House built entirely from timbers grown on the Estate

 Het Loo Royal Estate

After a good breakfast we piled into the bus and drove only an hour to our first stop, – the Royal Estate ‘Het Loo’ in Apeldoorn.  We were met by one of the forest managers, Rene Olthof and we were invited in to a lovely timber building where we had coffee and Rene introduced us to the history and make up of Het Loo, using maps.

Forest Manager Rene Olthof talking us through Het Loo Royal Estate with the use of maps of the forest.

Het Loo is a 10,000 ha forest that originally belonged to the King but now is run by the State.  It is divided into three areas of approx 3,000 ha each and managed by three Forest Managers. The yield is 15 cubic metres of Douglas fir per ha per year.  There are 4 deer per 100 ha and Rene considers this as a problem!  There are roe, red and fallow deer, plus wild boar.

‘We made Holland’ he told us, so nature conservation is a very high priority. Profit from timber is also essential and ‘often these two bite eachother.’

In the past much of the forest was coppiced, – sweet chestnut and oak, – but this is no longer practiced and the forests are managed as high forest.  There is some clearfell, but only less than a hectare in size. For the main it is managed as permanent forest.  10% of income from timber is for firewood.  It is sold at present for €45 per cubic metre at roadside in lengths.  Holland, like Ireland, is enjoying good prices for firewood.

First Stop – Douglas Fir Forest

By 11am we were standing in a high forest of beautiful tall, straight Douglas fir.  It is 50 years old, planted in early 1960s. In the last intervention they cut 75 cubic metres per ha which fetched €4000 per ha.

Rene told us there have been five interventions at five year intervals with the first after 20 years.  Each time Rene harvested the higher diameter trees.  There are now 400 stems per hectare in this forest.  The target diameter is 80cm.  He thins by eye, selecting 100 future trees per ha across all size ranges.

Mostly the timber sells as construction timber within Holland, although  recently he sold large diameter 18 metre logs to Germany at a high price.

Notice the lovely variety of stem sizes in this highly commercial Douglas fir forest.

Every country has its own reasons for having forests.  For some, like Ireland, with its relatively low population density, the focus is predominantly timber production. But for Holland, with over 16 million people and no natural forest left at all, a big priority is nature conservation and amenity. Rene Olthof explained to us that the commercial forest on Het Loo Estate pays for the non-commercial areas, such as the extraordinary Badger Mountain Reserve.

I suppose before I go any further I should remind you that we are in Holland here.  By ‘mountain’ what is meant is raised ground.  In the case of Badger Mountain we’re talking 107 metres above sea level!

Badger Mountain is a nature reserve made up almost entirely of beech forest at a very mature stage. There is no intervention here.  The beech forest is being permitted to express itself fully, right though to the ultimate decline of these massive trees.

The Pro Silva group with dead and decaying beech trees

For our group, coming from Ireland with its high emphasis on commercially viable forestry, it was almost inconceivable to see such an area of forest left to nature with no motivation to harvest any of the timber, even as firewood. It was an extraordinary experience.

The forest held  an almost primordial quality. I felt my spine tingling as we walked through the forest. We felt we were witnessing something so rare, – a forest in this day and age allowed to naturally go through all the stages of decay and decline followed by gradual rebirth. 

These fungi slowly consuming this dead stump had a sculptural appearance.

There is often a mis-conception that ‘close-to-nature’ means, – leaving it all up to nature.  No, that is not the case. It’s more to watch what nature does in the forest and try to work along in harmony with that dynamic in order to exploit the benefits of doing so. One of the benefits of letting the forest at Badger Mountain do its thing is that it’s only by leaving some forests alone that we can observe exactly what it is that nature is doing there.

Of course there are many other benefits to leaving it be, not least the effect such a place has on the human spirit. I left with the promise to myself that I’ll get back there for another look some day.

A truly open forest has evolved as many over-mature beech trees have fallen.

I had my little iTouch with me on which I store some photos. I showed him this photo first:

This is a big part of how forestry is done here in Ireland, and it is a part that no one likes. Clearfell, - when the entire forest is cut down to get at the timber.

I spoke about the process involved in getting a forest to this stage: The seed collection; the propagation of the seeds; the lining out of the seedlings; the digging up and bagging of the saplings; the transportation to the site; the site preparation; the planting of the trees; the (sometimes) thinning; the waiting, usually about 40 years and then the cutting down of the whole lot. I told him, “Think agriculture, only long term.”

Then I showed him this photo:

Plantation in Austria being transformed into permanent forest using close-to-nature management.

I pointed out the tall, straight trees in this photo, explaining that these were the trees remaining from the original plantation, and asked him to think of our own plantations before they’ve been thinned. So here is a similar plantation, only it’s been thinned carefully, and not in straight rows, to let in enough light so that the seeds on the forest floor can germinate and grow up.  I explained that then the foresters job is to manage the light by harvesting just enough of the tall trees, but not too many.  In this way the regenerating trees can grow up evenly and straight, without the need for expensive pruning. I asked him to notice all these small saplings, growing away for free. No expensive planting needed.

I think he got it.  He was a really great listener.  He told me that an old school friend had made a beautiful wooden bowl for him from a tree that had fallen in a forest they used to play in as children.  He told me of the silent disappointment of his own children when he had taken them for an adventure to a forest in Wicklow, only to come upon what looked like a war zone, – a clearfell site. When his children asked him what had happened, he had answered  ”I don’t know.” 

He asked me how come Irish foresters had got it so wrong.  I told him they hadn’t got it wrong.  That they have made a fantastic start by establishing forests where none had grown for centuries.  That now we can build on these brave beginnings by working with these plantations as pioneer forests. I told him “Think silviculture.”

We ended up spending nearly two hours talking forestry and re-honing the original idea that had brought us together.

On the way home I watched the landscape moving away from the window of the train.  Flashes of tall, spindly conifer forests that have long passed their date for thinning.  Swathes of wind thrown trees leaning into the plantation and just generally looking like an ugly mess. And everywhere the fresh green leaves of birch trees, that wonderful pioneer species you see so much of  in the midlands, shooting up in abundance in an attempt to show the humans that nature has an order and that by following that order, beautiful forests can evolve over time, just like they’ve done for many years in other countries. Only of course here, three times faster!

This beautiful forest in Austria has been managed by three generations of the one family, turning out valuable, high quality timber while at the same time providing an enchanting habitat for wildlife and for humans to enjoy.

Some say that brambles are an awful nuisance in a woodland, and I know they can be in some circumstances. But very often we think they mean trouble, when often they are acting as the pioneer species that helps to bring in the trees.

Here are ash saplings growing up through brambles.  Notice the spear-shaped leader bud of the young ash tree. It is hard and well protected and pushes through the tangle of tough brambles.  The bramble offers an effective deterrent to animals, including humans, who might threaten the young sapling.

 

 

The tough, spear-like bud of an ash sapling

Ash saplings punching up through brambles

Even oak can work its way through the brambles.  There is such predation on both the acorn and the oak sapling that bramble often offers the oak the solution it needs to germinate and grow big enough to survive.

 

Oak sapling growing through brambles.

So before you go too mad with the slash hook in a manic frenzy of ‘tidying up’ – why not look to see what nature, the greatest teacher of all, is doing to grow a forest, and follow along similar steps. Often good forestry is about doing less and having patience.

They’re coming down with seed this year. Free trees for everyone whether you want them or not!

Ash likes it here in the Cavan/Leitrim area where I live. Ash seedlings appear in people’s garden beds and pot plants; they come up through brambles; you find ash seeds germinating in uncovered compost heaps; along by stone walls. Mostly what we do with them is weed them out. – unless, that is, you are lucky enough to have a forest where ash seedlings appear.

All the talk in forestry circles about ash is usually about the hurley butt and it certainly has a good market there and it fetches a good price.   But I think the humble ash would have a far greater future than anything we could even imagine, if it was really given the chance.

Although ash is a fairly light demanding species, in its early years it can grow quite happily under the canopy of a young broadleaved forest or in the shade of a well thinned conifer plantation. Like most broadleaved trees, ash benefits enormously from shelter.

 

Ash sapling (centre) growing in the shelter of pioneer species in a native woodland.

Ash is an intermediary tree, in more ways than one.  For example, ash comes in after a pioneer species like the native alder or the non-native sitka spruce has done their job of colonizing bare ground. When the pioneer species is thinned and a bit of light let in, ash seedlings begin to appear in their thousands, grouping themselves into little pockets of closely sown seed.

 

An ocean of ash seedlings entering a recently thinned forest

Ash isn’t much good as the first tree, – it grows in every direction if planted single species on a bare field and therefor requires expensive early shaping and pruning. But if it comes into a forest of its own accord and the canopy is managed ‘little and often’ to maintain just the right amount of light, ash will grow straight and true and will require no expensive pruning or fuss.

Once ash is established it invites in, or creates the ideal conditions for oak and other slower maturing species to follow. So it can be thought of as the mediator between the pioneer species and the climax species.

And if ash were taken seriously here as a forest species tree, ash timber could also be the intermediary product that would allow the forest owner to be able to afford to grow the longer term broadleaves.

So the old adage of “If you want to grow broadleaves you must be prepared to wait for 100 years before you get any return” (how many times have I heard that said by foresters over the last 20 years?) is made a mockery of by the humble ash tree.  Here is the common ash offering great returns after only 18-20 years as hurley material, and from year 15 onwards for firewood, of which ash is arguably the best.

As for the timber quality, all the internal doors in our house are made from Irish ash. Their colour and grain patterns are varied with hues from honey gold to rich brown.  We are lucky to know Clarke Cunningham, (www.clarkecunningham.com/furniture.asp) who specializes in sawing Irish hardwoods and using it for joinery and to make bespoke furniture.  His work is superb and he too is passionate about the value and potential of Irish ash.

 

Pantry doors made from Irish ash

We import nearly all our hardwood timber into Ireland, including what we need for manufacturing hurleys.  Here is a hardwood tree that is easy and fast grown, is just begging to be taken seriously as a forest species, and produces beautiful and versatile timber.

The Lakeshore Road at Garadice

When the County Council tarred the quiet lane that runs along beside the lake shore at Garadice many trees were knocked down, damaged or pushed over by the machine driver and rammed up onto the low bank, causing even more damage to remaining trees.

 

Grand Old Oak Tree At Garadice

For about 15 years I have walked along the shores of this lake.  The fact that it is beautifully wooded, being the main reason.  These remnant woodlands probably fall into the ‘ancient’ category.  There are some huge old grandfather oaks standing firm along the lakeshore and throughout the small woodland.  It’s wonderful to be among these old trees.

All the other species are there: willows, alder, birch, lots of hazel, holly and ash.  But in all the years of going walking there, I had never noticed any seedlings.  No regeneration to speak of, other than a few ash saplings breaking through the brambles here and there.

A couple of years ago several big limbs were torn off some of the big oak trees during a fierce January storm.  This let in some light through the dense canopy but the new shafts of light had not been enough to bump start any germination. The forest floor remained void of seedlings.

 

Oak Seedlings

But that was before the road was tarred.  When the road was tarred and quite a few of the roadside trees were knocked down, this spring little groups of oak seedlings started to appear on the forest floor. Ash seedlings are also coming in, as are hazel. The whole forest has benefited from the side-light created by these roadside trees being tossed.

I thought back to the first ‘away’ trip of Pro Silva Ireland to Lower Saxony in Germany in 2001.  Our host, the wonderful Prof Hans Otto, explained patiently that regeneration will come only after a disturbance of some kind.  In nature these disturbances, or catastrophes as he called them, usually take the form of wind blown trees, or insect damage or some form of disease hitting certain species of trees. Increased light results from the gaps created in the canopy. The younger trees growing in the understorey benefit from the extra light, and so do the seeds lying in wait beneath the surface of the soil.  And then bling! – Regeneration occurs.

This then, is the art of *silviculture. The forester must harvest enough timber to protect the canopy and to let in enough light in order to keep the forest growing at a good rate and regenerating itself.

So now I have to take back all the nasty things I thought about the County Council and the machine driver. Unknowingly they created a disturbance/catastrophe that kick-started a whole new generation of small forest trees under the protective canopy of this much loved local woodland.

 

Ash saplings benefiting from new light caused by gap in canopy

*The word ’silviculture’ has been defined as “The art and science of perpetuating the woods and forests for the service of man for all time.”  Richard St.Barbe Baker