A Brief History
Soon after gaining a distinction in a Higher National Diploma in Forestry at Plumpton college, I formed Wealden Heartwood in 2005. Recently the company relocated to Devon and is working on developing it's customer base further.
Woodland Memorial Business Cases Study
In late 2010 a project was started for a customer who is looking at alternative uses for part of his woodland property that will also compliment his other estate activities. This is a collaboration project with another company that specialises in business case studies. Further details of this ongoing project will be updated as it develops.
If you have a woodland property that could benefit from alternative uses then please contact me to discuss your ideas.
Woodland Restoration of wind damaged Sweet Chestnut coppice
This customer's woodland had a sizeable area that was in a very poor condition. Much of this was the legacy of storms in Oct 1987 and Jan 1990. It was almost impossible to enter this compartment and intervention was necessary to improve the condition and safety. In the winter of 2008-2009 and with the assistance of Woodland Improvement Grant the storm damaged coppice and windthrown trees were cleared. In the future a decision will be made as to whether it is viable to re-introduce the coppice cycle or whether it should be left to develop into forest.
Dormice Nesting Boxes
In 2007 a
number of sponsored dormice nesting boxes were installed near a farm in East Sussex. Dormice had been known to be in the area but none had been spotted
for a long time. When the first inspection was made by a ranger approximately 9 months after installation, none of the dormouse boxes showed any sign of use. However, on the last check made by the Sussex ranger, two male Dormice were found in one of the nesting boxes. This was the first confirmed sighting of Dormice in this particular area for sometime and goes to show what can be achieved.
Interested in finding out more about what can be achieved with your woodland? Please feel free to contact Iain Turner by phone on 01363 84066 or email to info@wealdenheartwood.co.uk
More articles, news items and pictures are also posted on the company blog, which can be accessed at The Heartwood blog
Here is an update on the recovery of a stormed damaged coppice. The image below shows the change to the compartment after the restoration work was completed. This was taken in Spring 2011, which was two years after the intervention. This shows a significant improvement in condition compared to the original state (shown by the image on the left).