SEAL BROOK WOODLAND SCHOOL

As Autumn turns to Winter our focus at Seal Brook Wood changes from running courses to completing the woodland management tasks that are needed to improve the overall health of the woodland and increase habitat diversity and useable timber products.

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​For the 2025/2026 season we have identified the need to lay 545m of maiden hedge alongside an existing hedge, coppice 3 coups of overgrown hazel totalling 0.49 Ha, plant a 200m living willow fence/hedge and thin and prune the remaining 1.7 Ha of woodland that has not been thinned previously.

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This is obviously quite a large amount of work and for this Winter we are looking for volunteers to help us achieve these goals.

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In exchange for your time we are offering the opportunity to learn how to undertake these traditional woodland management tasks and understand the needs and benefits, as well as how to use a range of hand tools safely. We will also provide a hot soup and bread lunch for everyone and the kettle will tick along all day for teas and coffees, you are also welcome to take away any wood we cut such as pea sticks, bean poles, walking sticks, etc, and everyone will be welcome to help themselves to the pile of cut and seasoned willow firewood logs. Beyond this though you will get to spend the day in the fresh air with like minded people doing something to make a real difference to wildlife and the environment.

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All of the days will be a 9.30am arrival for a 10am start and safety brief, the day will start with teas and coffees and a talk around the camp fire to outline the history and need for the management, the work to be undertaken and the techniques and equipment required. We will then head to the target area and a demonstration given before getting underway, we will break for lunch at 1pm and then see out the afternoon finishing around 4pm. Some of the days are suitable for all the family but other days are only suitable for adults/older children due to the use of cutting tools, please see below for more details.

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if you would like to join us for any of the days then please email matt@sealbrookwoodlandschool.co.uk or use the contact us page on the website and we will email you with a set of joining instructions and a consent form to bring along on the day.

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Hazel Coppicing

 

Hazel coppicing utilises the Hazel trees natural regeneration properties to cut off an existing tree at ground level to create a 'stool', from this stool the hazel tree will throw up multiple new straight shoots the following spring, these stems can then be re-cut every 5-10 years to produce useable wood for weaving/hurdle making, greenwood working projects or anything you need a straight stick for!

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The hazel we need to coppice is out of rotation and has not been managed in a long time, by coppicing it this winter we will be bringing it back into a coppicing rotation as well as producing stakes for the hedge laying, any material that cannot be used will be formed into a 'dead hedge' around the hazel stand to offer some protection to the new growth from hares and deer as well as providing nesting habitat for songbirds.

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Dates: Saturday 22nd November 2025, Sunday 7th December 2025

Suitable for: Older children and adults due to working with cutting tools and overhead branches, a reasonable level of fitness.

Equipment provided: Eye protection, gloves, folding saws, loppers, small axes, billhooks

Skills learnt: The correct way to cut a Hazel stool, using a folding saw on standing timber, safe biilhook use for snedding, safe axe use for pointing stakes

Equipment that would be good to bring: Hardwearing clothing, waterproof footwear, any of the equipment above if you have your own, especially PPE and loppers as we have limited supplies of these.

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​​​​​​​​Living Willow Hedge/Fence Planting

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Willow is a fantastic tree that like Hazel can be coppiced to provide new stems and cut rotationally to provide material for basketry, fence weaving, etc. Another brilliant property of Willow is that it grows voraciously and will self root from a cut rod, a layered whip, a stick left lying on damp ground or even stuck in the ground upside down!

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We would like to use rods from Willow coppiced last year to plant and weave a living fence along the Eastern boundary of the woods, we will start in the morning by harvesting the Willow rods from previously coppiced stools and after lunch we will construct the fence by using a ground spike to create a hole and pushing the rods into the ground and weaving them into an interlocking screen, by next Spring the Willow should have rooted and will continue to grow and lock itself together. This can be done by all ages with assistance from an adult for younger children.

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Dates: Sunday 23rd November 2025

Suitable for: All ages with adult supervision for smaller children

Equipment provided: Gloves, eye protection, secateurs, planting spikes

Skills learnt: Harvesting Willow, planting Willow rods

Equipment that would be good to bring: Hardwearing clothes, waterproof footwear, any of the equipment above if you have your own.

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Hedge Laying

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Hedge laying is an ancient practice that regenerates hedging trees and makes the hedge stockproof by interlocking horizontal stems and filling in the gaps that form as a hedge grows taller. This also creates a haven for wildlife as the thicker hedge provides more shelter and nesting habitat.

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Along the Southern boundary of Seal Brook Wood we have an existing hedge but inside of this hedge we have a strip of woodland (previously the outer track) that has self seeded to Blackthorn and Hawthorn, the aim this winter is to lay these self seeded trees and create an entirely new hedge that runs parallel to the existing, effectively doubling the thickness of the hedge and increasing habitat significantly. We will also weave and stake thinned stems back into the new hedge to give it some initial bulk and support the laid trees.

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Due to the size of the self seeded trees (between thumb and wrist thickness) all the laying work can be done with hand tools, there is no way to dress it up though, it is a hard and spiky undertaking and it is guaranteed that at some point in the day a thorn will find its way to your skin! You need to be very hardy or slightly deranged but if you want a true experience of hedge laying then look no further.

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Dates: Saturday 13th December 2025, Saturday 17th January 2026

Suitable for: Adults only due to the cutting tools and the nature of the Hawthorn and Blackthorn to be laid

Equipment provided: Eye protection, welding gauntlets, folding saw, billhook, post knocker, loppers, small axe

Skills learnt: Pleaching cuts, laying over, staking, working with a range of hand tools

Equipment that would be good to bring: Very hardwearing clothing that you are not precious about and specifically protects the arms, waterproof footwear (walking boots better than wellingtons), a thick hat or head protection, any of equipment above if you have your own, especially loppers.