I would also like to thank all our members for your continued support from attending sessions and those members who work behind the scenes to make the sessions possible. We have updates from the Biochar project, the Environmental Education Team at Rosliston Forestry Centre, a Corporate visit, Christmas crafts at the Hub, and more.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
January Woodland Management Dates
Biochar Update
Early in November a keen group members gathered at the Hub for the inaugural burn of the biochar kiln. Armed with “You Tube” based training they set about starting the central fire and proceeded to add varying amounts of “brash” from nearby piles. It soon became apparent that there were quite a number of “cooks” gathered around the cauldron like kiln. Thankfully captain Sharples took control from a high point created with a stack of pallets. The fire was quickly under his management and soon reached the rim of the kiln - it was now time to quench it with around 100 litres of water. This done the fire was soon extinguished and the results assessed. Overall, a great deal of learning was gained by the team and around 16 compost sacks of biochar produced.
The team are now creating a plan to improve the process of production and are looking at a solution to make the kiln mobile. More details of the project are available for anyone interested or who would like to get involved.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Education Link
We have been working with the Environmental Education Team at Rosliston Forestry Centre to make good use of the Charcoal educational material we have. As a result, we are planning to run a number of sessions for secondary schools on the 25th & 26Th April with a public event on Saturday 27th April. If you would like to be involved, please let us know, we will be running through the educational material at the Hub in the new year so anyone can get involved. We are also pursuing the creation of educational material around the biochar project, so again please let us know if you would like to help.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Corporate Visit
We welcomed the second team from “The Stone Group” to the Hub at the beginning of November as part of their sponsorship with the National Forest. The team were keen and interested in the work we carry out in woodlands, so spent time learning to fell trees, processing firewood, and making charcoal. They even emptied the new Biochar kiln for us.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
January Woodland Management Dates
January Woodland Management sessions go live to all members to book at 6pm Friday 1st December. As always, if a session is full and you would like to attend, please add yourself to the waiting list. While this doesn't guarantee you'll get a space it does give us an indication of demand.
February wood fuel sessions will go live to multi skilled members on Thursday 15st December at 6pm and to all members on Sunday 1st January at 6pm.
As always, if you are booked onto a session or are on the waiting list and can no longer attend please book off as this could allow another member the opportunity to attend a session.
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
email:
Christmas Craft Update
On the run up to Christmas, our sessions have been very busy building reindeers and Santas. Our pre orders came to over 115 and our members didn’t fail to produce. We are always on the lookout for new craft items that we can make using materials from the woodlands we work in. If you have any ideas please get in touch, or better still come along and have a go at yourself!
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
The Hub Update
As mentioned, we have been very busy at the Hub with the new kiln, members craft sessions and other visitors. In the new year we will again begin to also look at improving the facilities at our base in the woods. If you are more into building than crafting come along, we can always use another pair of hands.
A small team spent an hour harvesting weaving willow at a local farm, thanks to a lead from Darren Abell. The willow is “in cycle” so is being harvested annually to ensure the “whips” are as long and straight as possible. We have been looking to arrange a willow session at the hub for some time, so now we have the materials we will set something up. If there is a fairly simple project, you would like to have a go at let us know.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Woodland Trust Internal Audit
The Woodland Trust site manager (David Logan) recently visited one of our sessions at Foxley wood accompanied by a WT internal auditor, who was looking at David’s contractor management and its effectiveness on site. As a “contractor” we received some excellent feedback on our working practices, safety, and general approach to the management of their woodlands. There were a number of points raised as observations that we will be taking some form of action upon. They were: -
- Clearer “boundary” signage of the work area.
- A process to manage safety helmet dates and when necessary, their replacement.
- Increased warnings at some of the ATV crossing points.
- Group welfare facilities.
- Recycling of tree guards (we realise these have already been removed, but there are lots left in the woods, so we can help remove them from site).
We have a good story on all of these points, so will be making slight changes over future sessions. We see these as improvements and not criticisms of the way we work, so please help us make the group even safer and better for us, the general public and the woodlands.
We will update everyone with any changes.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Community Woodland Project
Tatenhill and Rangemore proposed community group.
Some may recall that the Pick’s Triangle taster type events Heartwood ran for the NFC last season were visited by Emma Andrews and Kevin Taylor from the charity “Rural Community Council” (RCC) who were wanting to learn about Community Woodland Groups.
The NFC and RCC are collaborating on the project to create 10 Community Woodland Groups that’s been in flight for around a year. One such proposed group is in the Tatenhill and Rangemore area, just West of Burton upon Trent. At Zoe’s suggestion, Emma made contact to ask if setting that group up was something we could offer support for.
Graham made a site visit with Em and Kevin earlier this week and formed the opinion that this is exactly the type of setup activity Heartwood could support, and we’d previously indicated to the NFC we were happy to do.
An evening meeting has since taken place on 8th November at the Rangemore location that Graham attended.
The purpose of the meeting was to float the idea of forming a Community Woodland Group.
Graham gave a brief talk about aspects of setting a Community Woodland Group up and answered a number of questions. Hopefully some of the attendees may be prepared to take on roles to make it happen. If so then future Heartwood input could be helping with the necessary paperwork, perhaps conducting induction type training. That sort of thing. A bit like some of the support we delivered at Mimi’s Wood, and Beacon Hill.
Graham Bowers | Operations Chair
email:
Christmas Wishes to Members
This will be the last opportunity to wish all of our members a wonderful Christmas. The season so far has been busier than previous years with a core of members/committee working very hard to make it all happen. In the new year I will put a short article in the newsletter each month to focus on each key role in turn to explain in more detail what goes on behind the scenes – there may be something you would like to be involved with. We have many more members already getting involved in the running of the group and sharing the load, so thank you.
With half of the season under our belt we still have lots to look forward to, so I hope you enjoy the Christmas break, get something “Heartwoody” from Santa and come to the new year refreshed and ready to start again. Thank you for your continued support, like you I love being part of this group and look forward to seeing you at a session soon.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
PhD Student Survey
Berglind Karlsdóttir is a PhD researcher looking at the impacts of tree planting on people’s values and wellbeing. With climate change and mass biodiversity loss, tree planting is increasingly important in a modern society and many large-scale planting projects are underway across the country. For most people, tree planting brings a range of positive benefits such as by providing greenspace for exercise and socialising and contributing to beautiful landscapes. However, researchers have spent less time trying to understand what happens if people place a high value on the land type that was there before it was planted, such as agricultural land that produces valuable food, or open spaces with nice views. People’s own values and beliefs and their familiarities or connections with existing landscapes are likely to affect how they perceive tree planting and the benefits or disbenefits tree planting brings them. If we better understand when and where tree planting brings benefits to people, much can be done to optimise tree planting plans and strategies while taking into account social impacts.
Berglind aims to understand these questions through her survey and a small number of follow-up interviews. She will then repeat the survey and interviews in four years’ time to get a dynamic picture of how perceptions and benefits change as trees grow and people experience changes to their local natural environments.
To get a better understanding of how people experience tree planting, and how this changes over time, we kindly ask that you fill in Berglind’s survey (and there is a £50 vouchers for three lucky respondents). If you are able to, please also share the survey with your networks – family, friends and any relevant groups you might know of. The survey is advertised on Facebook and on Twitter.
Berglind conducts her PhD at the Countryside and Community Research Institute at University of Gloucestershire. You can read more about her research on her research page, and she encourages anyone to get in touch at
