Hazel, willow, beef and storytelling from Bedfordshire

The Bradfield Woods

Pete Fordham of Suffolk Wildlife Trust talks about a current coppice plot

Pete Fordham of Suffolk Wildlife Trust talks about a current coppice plot

As people who have barely got out of the egg stage of coppicing it was a bit humbling to join others of the newly created East Anglian Coppice Group for a meeting then to wander around the Bradfield Woods near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk yesterday.

The meeting was good – informative, interesting, friendly, and we all left with some jobs to get on with. Thanks to Paul Vodden for getting the day organised and to Pete Fordham of Suffolk Wildlife Trust for hosting the meeting and telling us a load of stuff about the woods. Writing a blog post about the day sadly, wasn’t on my list but heh, who’s to know?

Jane and I had visited the woods, many years ago but without the addition of local knowledge and that was really good even though the cold was pretty penetrating for standing around for long periods.

Turns out we all seem to fall into the category of Rackham disciples; the sadly diseased professor’s name came up repeatedly in reference to pollards, coppice stools, Chalara ash dieback and many other things. Quite amazing what an influence one academic can have on a group of people – albeit one with rather specialist common interests. This was the epicentre of his very broad range of studies both geographical and thematically, so I suppose it’s not so surprising.

In terms of coppicing, as someone who has committed the rather heretical act of planting woodland on many occasions and trying to make some money out of coppicing some now, experiencing these woodlands, even on a bleak Saturday afternoon in January, I am persuaded of Professor Oliver Rackham’s wisdom. The meaning of the woods is something that can’t be recreated; they are most special and irreplaceable. Our new woods are fabulous. We love them. But even the addition of a thousand years won’t make them into another complex like the Bradfield Woods.

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