Chris and the dead hedge

What a glorious day it has been! The sun shone down from a blue, blue sky and we had thirteen volunteers who did sterling work coppicing Hazel on the banks of Risedale Beck.

Chris, who is very experienced in all woodland crafts, demonstrated a beautiful dead hedge, which will use up all of the pruned stems.

Here you can see Ann, Heather and Jack weaving in the Hazel withies, and Val on the bank, carrying on with the cutting.
At lunchtime is was sunny enough that we had our first volunteer day picnic in the sunshine!

The last photo is of a lovely log pile which is just at the perfect stage of being covered with moss and lichen. A good way to use up all the logs, and a perfect habitat for creatures of all kinds.

As well as our volunteers, the Dales School were here, and they helped weave twigs into the dead hedge. Forest School also used the Field Centre as the base for the last day of their course.

All in all, a very busy day here,