Family tree felling

22 February 2010

The arrival of slightly longer days, combined with a short (!) dry spell brought the decision to return to the wood for some more felling last week. The idea being to fell and clear space for the regeneration (mainly birch) that is coming through, but to clear before the birch gets much bigger and comes into bud, thereby limiting damage to the young saplings. This is also a good time of year to fell; the standing timber is relatively low in sap making it less sticky and lighter to move once felled, and hopefully speeding up the seasoning process.

The end of last week brought two beautiful days, with sun hitting the wood and Tigh-an-Quay for the first time since November. All four of the Tanera team headed round to the wood for a combined effort of cutting, heaving, clearing and stacking. It was my first time tree felling. After watching Bill perform the operation a few times I had a crack on a rather spindly specimen that would have probably obliged with just a stern push. The scientific approach of hinge cutting was however far more satisfying and set me up for some slightly meatier spruces later in the day, all aided by some strong rope pulling from Jean and Lizzie.

By the end of the two days we had a good few stacks of timber at the northern end of the wood. Happily drying out and awaiting the arrival of many hands to lighten the load of man-hauling it to Tigh-an-Quay Pier, before it makies the onward journey to our fireplaces from where it will provide us with heat during the winter of 2011-12.

By Rich