Scrub Clearing and Coppicing Season

[SomeMight]

I am really looking forward to the cutting back season to start.

Last year we were quite tame and really didn't have a clue what we were doing, but a year on and we can see that we need to be a lot more bruital.

Cawston Greenway's Blog

Does anyone have any experience or advice on how wide we need to make the path so as to maximise the plant diversity. We are quite lucky that the greenway runs north to south so we get good sunshine without having to clear taller trees on the fringes.

Feel free to have a nose at our blog and any input or ideas are always welcome

Paul

[muldonach]

Originally Posted by SomeMight

I am really looking forward to the cutting back season to start.

Last year we were quite tame and really didn't have a clue what we were doing, but a year on and we can see that we need to be a lot more bruital.

Cawston Greenway's Blog

Does anyone have any experience or advice on how wide we need to make the path so as to maximise the plant diversity. We are quite lucky that the greenway runs north to south so we get good sunshine without having to clear taller trees on the fringes.

Feel free to have a nose at our blog and any input or ideas are always welcome

Paul

As a general rule of thumb make the path width twice the height of the trees on either side, leave some trees "stepped in" at intervals so as to form visual barriers and offer sheltered nooks.

Then vary the cutting height and frequency of cut :-

Cut some sections close every year (towards the centre of the path)

Cut some every second / third year etc - (further out towards edges)

Cut sections only right to the edge every 5 years or so.

In general - if you want biodiversity then vary the habitat as much as possible as long as it has some scale to it.

Cheers
mac