SMCV

Not everyone’s favourite month as the light of the year reduces towards winter. But more often than not this transition offers a sweet spot, a ‘slack tide’ in the season before the next big change. Admittedly, Storm Claudia rather interrupted that vision and we were lucky and thankful to emerge (on Sunday 16 November) into a gentle weekend.
A cool start saw the eager team of eight SMCV volunteers meet up at the muddy car park below the woods of Tegg’s Nose where Ranger Martin welcomed us back. He described the task – nominally Heathland Regeneration. In terms of Tegg’s Nose this means reducing the spread of the lower wood upslope into the heather-covered heath that covers these southerly slopes of the rocky ‘Nose’.
Our site of work was to be at the top edge of the wood and involved a steep walk up the trail through the mature oaks and beech. Wildlife was present before we left the cars; we watched a scurrying stoat zigzag between holly trees and mounds of fallen leaves, and a mewing buzzard swooped across the woodland edge by the reservoir.
The aftermath of Claudia was demonstrable in the nearby village of Langley, with stoved-in rooves sadly evident. The storm’s EastNorEast winds had caused unusual havoc in the woods too, and split and broken branches had tumbled and been cleared from the track. Higher up some trees had uprooted completely, and one oak had split three ways. This proved our first ‘bonus’ task; clearing the twigs and limbs from the path to allow walkers through. Our main task lay beyond across the died-back bracken of the slope of scrub. This zone is what’s called an ‘ecotone’, a zone between differing habitats. One aim is to maintain the ecotone – with a gradual shift between the woods and the heath. It is a constant task as the natural pioneer species willingly spread out into the light above the wood. These include birch, mainly, with eventual oak, random apple trees, rowans, gorse, ash, beech, pine and hawthorn. Martin told us that heather regeneration was possible since the soil’s seed bank is viable for up to 70 years. Therefore given light (and less bracken) the heather can continue to establish and thrive.
Our task was to remove all the saplings bar very few, some too large for us to remove and others considered worth keeping as individually significant. Equipped with bowsaws, pruning saws and loppers the volunteers spread out across the ground and quickly trimmed down the saplings, creating simple ‘butt-ended’ piles of the arisings. Some of this ended up as small log bundles for those willing to carry them back!
We made great progress and enjoyed a wide blue sky and warming sunlight and a peaceful environment. Some of us were down to shirt sleeves before long. As ever it was a friendly group day-out in the sun, enjoying a comfortable lunch spot on dry vegetation. Chatting and explaining to passers-by about what we do was part of it too. Lots of happy faces. We can’t wait to go back and keep up the good work in this beautiful spot with the long views of trees, water and hills.

We were back at Tegg’s Nose on 15 June when, as on the more recent of our previous visits, we were helping with the suppression of bracken. Left unchecked, the vigorous bracken limits the diversity and value of the habitat; the control of it by physical means is part of an ongoing experiment to reduce the site’s use of chemicals. As well as bashing the bracken stems with wooden stales, this time we also used scythes. Trampling clumps of bracken underfoot also proved pretty effective! The progress from previous clearing efforts was visible, as bracken growth is slowed in those areas. Big thanks to ranger Martin for his hospitality and another interesting day – we look forward to being back here on 20 July!