What happens to felled trees at Brockholes?

What happens to felled trees at Brockholes?

Being the Reserve Officer at Brockholes brings with it many challenges when it comes to conservation. One of them being, how can we save wading birds from their natural predators? Lorna Bennett explains how we manage this.

As part of our ‘Linking Grasslands’ project last year we felled a monoculture of Alder trees in the vicinity of the Backless Hide, towards the west of the nature reserve. 

The primary conservation objective of this was to remove some of the perching and nesting sites used by crows and jackdaws, with the aim of moving them further away from No.1 pit Island, as they had been predating on the ground-nesting wading birds. 

What happens to the wood?

The felled timber will not go to waste and gradually we are hauling and processing it. Some of the wood will be heaped to create a natural home for invertebrates, amphibians and small mammals, some will be used for wood crafts such as making timber benches and ornamental figures, and some will be cut and processed as logs. 

Seasoned timber

This week the conservation volunteers will spend time cutting, processing and stacking logs. Once stacked, the logs are seasoned under cover until their moisture content drops below 20%.

They are then suitable for use in woodburners and open fires, so we sell them to the public, either in small net bags (£6.00/bag or £10.00/two bags) or in large builders/tonne sacks (£60.00/large bag).