One of the main problems with forestry is getting machinery into and timber out of woods. Our woodlands consist of two different types – policy woodlands planted up or selected out of natural growth to enhance the views for the estate and to provide timber in various forms for estate use.
The photo left shows a typical scenario, the roadway is not cut at random but follows the line of an estate roadway shown on old OS Maps and we managed to follow it on the ground. However it was only ever intented for horses although I believe quite a quantity of timber came through here in WW2
In order to gain access all year round and avoid damage to the woodland floor it is necessary to put in hard access roads and in order to do that we need rock – which we are not exactly short of although it does not come in an ideal form.
The clue is in the name “Aries Knowes” – the glaciers left us plenty of rock behind although some of it is in large healthy chunks. Its not difficult to rip it out with an excavator although lifting some of the chunks can be a challenge at times.
As well as improving access to the woodlands we are also trying to improve the quality of the grass on the place and there is a degree of synergy in the two aims – rock lifted out of the fields to allow cultivation and cutting without wrecking machinery can be gathered into a pile and crushed after breaking the large stones down with a rock hammer.
Once that is done the crushed stone can be placed into the roadway after the removal of topsoil and soft material down to a firm base and an firm trackway formed although a couple of passes with a heavy vibro-roller help to settle the hardcore down.
The sheep fairly like the new grass as well
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