Fire as a tool

Heathland fires in the high summer can be pretty terrifying, they can spread as fast as you can run and be very destructive for wildlife. Fire on a heath is not always a bad thing though. Here at Black Down we use fire every winter as a tool to help with our heathland management.

We burn several small targeted areas of heath each winter as part of our habitat mangement work. This encourages fresh new young growth of heather and diversifies the ages structure of the heather.

It is challenging work, especially making sure it is done safely. We cut a pattern of firebreaks first to make sure the burn can’t escape and always have a water bowser and firebeaters on hand, along with our well trained and skilled Ranger team.

We back burn against the wind to start with to extend the firebreak and then when the conditions are right set light to the leading edge. When it goes well it is quite a sight…

The fire burns thrugh the vegetation up to the firebreak, and then extinguishes itself as it runs out of combustable material.

It looks dramatic, but on a small scale provides exactly the right sort of diverse habitat that so much of our really special heathland wildlife needs in order to survive. At the moment we are targeting our burn sites to try and help with the habitat for our Silver Studded Blue butterfly reintroduction project.

We reintroduced the first batch of butterflies last year, more will be coming this year and next, but in the meantime it is going to be so exciting come the summer to see if the first batch produced any young.

 

Community Woodfuel

In Haslemere we are lucky enough to live in the most wooded part of England. Fantastic if you love your trees, but also a real resource, both for people and for wildlife. Many of these woods, especially the coppices, need managing in order to be able to thrive and provide homes for the wonderful wildlife that lives in them. This sometimes means felling trees. It may seem odd to some people, but without thinning, coppicing and other forms of management many of our woods lose habitat value.

All of that management activity in our woods, and in some woods we need to see much more of it, produces a hugely useful and environmentally friendly resource… wood… We use it for all manner of purposes, but today I am thinking about wood as a fuel.

In the picture above it is being used to boil our kelly kettle for a cup of tea, but when used for space heating in your home… well, nothing feels as homely as a wood fire. As it happens (if you are careful about where the wood comes from) it happily turns out that nothing is quite so environmentally friendly either. Wood from well managed woodlands is pretty much carbon neutral. By burning it to heat your home rather than oil or gas you can have a positive impact on the woods where you live. You can provide homes for wildlife, combat climate change, create employment for woodmen, give better recreational access for people and have a positive impact on the woods on your doorstep.

It is no good waiting for our politicians to change the world, we are the people with the real power. Positive changes in the way we live our lives, interact with the world and source the goods we use is the best way to have a real impact. We are the sum of our actions. That is how I feel about the world anyway, and that is why I am currently really excited about a new project that is being launched by Transition Haslemere (http://transitionhaslemere.org/newsite/).

Haslemere Wood Heat Hub is being born. It is a community woodfuel initiative and aims to get people involved and active in their local woods, as well as providing them with fuel to heat their homes. I think it is a fantastic idea, if you live in or around Haslemere and need wood to keep you warm I believe it has a lot to offer.

Woodland owners are coming together to provide an opportunity for local people to come out and work in the woods. In return for their time and volunteer labour these people  will get either free or discounted logs, The more time you put in the cheaper your fuel becomes. As well as firewood members will receive newsletters, get their choice of events with a variety of activities, be invited to outdoor cooking and social activities and get more fresh air and exercise than you could shake a stick at.

The first event of the new group is on February 15th from 10am till 2pm. It will be at Fowlshatch copse near Grayswood. Under 16s are welcome as long as they are supervised by a responsible adult. Dogs are welcome too, unless specific event details give reason for excluding them. For further information contact jane.devlin@fowlshatchcopse.co.uk. The work will vary according to the season, weather and what needs undertaking according to the woods managment plan, but time spent there will bring a future bounty of logs for your fire.

Further events are on the way both at Fowlshatch Copse and at Imbahms Farm. The hope is that other woodland owners locally will come on board as the project widens and more local people get involved in looking after their woods. All of the woods involved will have a management plan carried out to ensure the resource is being appropriately and properly managed. I have lost count of how many times people have asked me if I know where they can get logs for their fire. Now I have the perfect answer.