Hardwick Wood Coppicing etc

 Any Saturday through the winter months that I am free, I join a conservation party in Hardwick Wood to do a bit of coppicing (contact for details of Saturday and Sunday work parties in Cambridge area info@ccv.org.uk). I first started coppicing in 1962 at Hayley Wood so have had a bit of practise over the years. I walk up and back from the wood - about a 3 mile round trip so plenty of exercise. Coppicing is a traditional woodland management technique that dates back to the Stone Age involving cutting branches at their base to create a ‘stool’ where new shoots will grow - best suited to hazel, but can be applied to sweet chestnut, ash and lime. The original use of coppicing is still maintained in Hardwick  producing firewood and long straight poles for fencing, building and in the garden as bean poles. Coppicing is also thought to improve the biodiversity of a woodland area by opening it up to the sunlight and allowing a wider range of plants to grow. 

Here some images on my walk (including a distant Addenbrookes site!!), of the coppicing area at the start of the process and of the ancient woodland areas (with hundreds of Ash seedlings (reaction to Ash die-back?).  The tall single hazel shoots in the image will be laid into adjacent bare areas to sprout and fill the gaps in the hazel regrowth). 

Hardwick Wood Fungi

There are lots of small fungi in Hardwick Wood at the moment  but no large Parasols or Geotropes yet. Several species of Ink Caps  while the pore tubes on the Beef steak fungus are intriguing. Taken around midday so not the best lighting and no idea what the small insect is on the first image

Summer in Hardwick Wood

Most of  the mud of the winter has dried up in Hardwick Wood with many of the paths now filled with grasses taller than me and everywhere vibrant green with mosses and foliage. I went to check on the butterfly population - certainly there are Silver-washed Fritillaries but not in abundance and they are looking fairly worn. Plenty of Whites, Red Admirals and Ringlets but didn't locate any Hairstreaks -  I am sure they will be there high in the Oaks. I took a macro lens - not the best for recording flying woodland butterflies so big enlargements but hopefully gives of feel of this very beautiful and wild place.

Sunset Walk to Hardwick Wood

I walk up to and explore Hardwick wood  on average once a week - the terrain is unusually hilly for Cambridgeshire so there are always enjoyable views with wide skies and at around 3.5miles round trip fulfils my daily exercise quota. Yesterday I did the walk later in the afternoon so the sun set as I was in the wood giving a dramatic setting for the large number of fungi there at the moment including large Geotropes (Clitocybe geotrope) and Parasols

Fungi in Hardwick Wood

Hardwick Wood, as expected, has very large numbers of fungi everywhere at the moment after the rain and now the warmer temperatures. The first two have appropriate names - the Tripe Fungus and the Honey Fungus (taken with small pocket camera so not great quality!).