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Lackham woodlands.
The woodlands on the estate are a perfect place to hone your identification skills on some of our country’s more scarce plants, decipher the many bird calls you will hear and have, at very least, a peek into the world of the game keeper.
It’s also where a large % of the student practical takes place. The estate holds small stands of cherry, popular and conifer representing some of the timber trends in the estates history. And also has fine stands of mature oak with a Hazel coppice under story and swathes of woodland wildflowers
Arboriculture
There are parkland, veteran, and specimen trees, a fine collection of
cricket bat willow and many different management techniques to satisfy
the arboriculture in you. The RFS theory course at Lackham has seen
students pass in numbers consistently above the national average for
many years now.
Coppicing
This traditional form of woodland management arose when our
Ancestors discovered that certain young broadleaf trees when cut to
ground level, would the following year produce multiple stems.
These could then be left to grow until reaching a correct size for its intended use and harvested (Much easier than cutting large timber into smaller sizes). And so the cycle continued with each rotation becoming more productive
Though there has been a recent revival of coppice products, such as hurdles for garden fencing, a long decline has meant many woodlands with coppice have become over stood or derelict and this has had a dramatic effect on the wildlife, such as the Brown Streak Butterfly, that has evolved to live within the coppice rotation.
It has therefore been a priority of the estate team to return this valuable habitat back rotation. Coppicing Hazel within a planned coupe every year creates a new sunny glade, a more un- even age structure throughout the woodland and therefore a more diverse environment.
Footpaths and access
The estate has many footpaths running across its land and therefore has a responsibility to ensure that the general public and students are safe while they enjoy the estate and what it has to offer.
During the spring and summer months it’s important that the wildlife on the estate is not disturbed by our activities and therefore any invasive habitat work halts. It’s during these sunny days that conservation and agricultural students will be found fencing, replacing stiles, building boardwalks/bridges and learning skills and ideas that are vital for any countryside student.
Hedge laying
This traditional form of boundary management would have once been the staple diet of any farm worker during the winter months. Managed this way the hedge regenerated with vigour from the base, provided a stock proof barrier and was a valuable source of firewood on the farm.
There are many local variations in the way hedges are layed. On the Lackham estate the Midland style is used. Hedges of 8-12feet are first cleared of bramble and any invasive woody plants such as Elder.
Each suitable stem is then cut in a way, which allows the tree to remain connected to the stump, and therefore living, and lain over at a 45-degree angle. Stakes are then placed along the length of the hedge and heathers woven through to increase the stability until the hedge re-establishes itself.
As with coppicing the management that once benefited the land manager also benefited a diverse range of wildlife. And thanks to the lecturers, students and Stewardship scheme, the suitable estate hedges are again being managed in this way.
Pond restoration and maintenance
There is over 2ha of standing water on the estate and associated farms, all varying greatly in size, surroundings and their current/ intended use. They all require very similar management however, to prevent the large amount of decomposing matter produced by encroaching aquatic and wetland plants from silting up the ponds entirely.
Sensitive management of these habitats, whether for game, wildlife or filtering systems such as reed beds, is hard physical and smelly work. However there is rarely a word of complaint from students or lecturers once the dry-suits and waders are donned…
Grassland management
Most of the grassland on the estate has been given over to crops or improved for grazing and is therefore managed by the farm and agricultural students.
Small pockets of un-improved grassland and its associated herbs and grasses do remain along the riverbanks and areas to steep for cultivation.
The estate team has adopted this and an area of grassland to the north of the estate, once occupied by a small animal farm. With ideas and support from students, they wish to turn these closely clipped lawns, into diverse grasslands
Sensitive grazing and/or cut and removal systems will be implemented to allow existing flowers and grasses to seed, and create suitable conditions for others to hopefully follow, through either the seed bank or introductions.
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