I have about 10 acres of fields. We’re about 300ft above sea level, on decent soil with some slight drainage issues. The land is roughly 25% steeper sloping and 75% gently sloping.

I am looking at planting it out for woodland. Recreation is a big consideration but it would be nice to bring in an element of investment to the project. Any recommendations for good tree species?

I am also looking into equipment. I have been considering a small-mid size tractor for snow-clearing and landscaping. An excavator facility would obviously be useful. What is the most useful piece of small plant for looking after woodland?

Thanks for any advice or input.

Maybe contact someone like the Woodland Trust? But generally, I’d guess coppicing or something like that as a sustainable way of getting income without doing the ‘slash and burn’ thing that a lot of coniferous woodland needs.

Do you need any planning permission to take land out of agricultural use like this?

What is the most useful piece of small plant for looking after woodland?

Obviously chainsaw and then I would have thought a John Deere Gator/Kawasaki Mule would be useful for generally moving stuff about. You might be better getting a contractor in to sort the drainage as you may not want to buy the plant just for one job.

Do you need any planning permission to take land out of agricultural use like this?

Amazingly I think you do, but could be wrong.

3.5 tonne digger would be my first choice, and a power barrow. I have an acre of mature woodland which is a steep valley. The biggest difficulty is getting materials down to where they’re required.

If I was starting from scratch I’d probably hire a good contractor/digger to sculpt the land before planting.

You’re going to have to go for fast growing species if you want to see results in your lifetime, I have a lot of ash and alder – which grow like the clappers – interspersed with hazel which I coppice.

I’ve recently planted a load of Flanders Red Willow (Salix Alba Fragilis) for 2 reasons. Firstly, it’ll form natural terracing on a steep embankment to make it safer and more accessible, and I plan to harvest it for ‘spiling’ to reinforce the banks of my brook.

Spiling is really good for building long-term features as it ties together soil and also guaranteed a ready supply of willow for more spiling/planting…

I have done some research with Woodland Trust, Dept of Agriculture etc. There are grants available for creating and maintaining woodland on agricultural land. I have looked at coppicing willow but it can be quite intensive in terms of equipment required and the grant structures are more complex.

I am leaning towards broadleaf but I have had recommendations for and against birch, oak, etc, which gets confusing. I’m also a bit unsure of which way to go with equipment.

Soil type?
current agricultural use?
single payment scheme?

to be honest, what you need is a proper forester local to you, contact the ICF:

http://www.charteredforesters.org/directory-of-consultants/

and with their help, you can more than likely get a grant to pay for most of the cost of a woodland management plan and a lot of your planting/creation costs

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/ewgs-funding-farm-woodlands.pdf/$file/ewgs-funding-farm-woodlands.pdf

The soil is a decent loam, current use is grazing/silage. The relevant grants are likely to be the Woodland Grant Scheme and Farm Woodland Premium Scheme. We’re in County Down so I will look for a local forester.

I am leaning towards broadleaf but I have had recommendations for and against birch, oak, etc, which gets confusing.

You’re not going to see any significant growth with Oak in your lifetime, and whilst birch is a good option, it gives a fairly sparse coverage.

I’d go for a mixture of fast growing “standards” like Ash with hazel, birch, willow and maybe larch to form thickets. With an area that size it would be fairly easy to have pockets of different planting combinations to give variety and diversity.

Lucky you, sounds great! In terms of growing and managing an “investment” (sic) there are so many variables that might influence your decisions as to the species mix you want to grow and what you need to manage them.

As you suggest soils, exposure, climate, other local factors etc., need to be considered as to what species will be viable, but what timber you want and for what purpose, the rate of rotation (and income), what methods you plan to use to manage the wood, process the timber, with what amount of time/ effort, who is doing the work… And all of that has to work with your financial constraints. Depending on what you decide to do, it’s quite possible you might not see any significant financial reward within your lifetime [edit – see shibboleth has touched on this above]. Assuming you’re in the UK your local FC [edit – see you’re NI, should still apply] will likely also be able to help with advice on all of this, producing a management plan, applying for relevant grants, recommending other sources of local advice etc…

Equipment wise, again lots of variables depending on the above – what you plant, how you are cropping it, what you need to move, distances, weights/ sizes etc… I’d suggest that if you are imagining a “traditional” woodland then once any groundwork (if any needed) is done there aren’t likely to be many heavy jobs that necessitate large machinery for quite a few years, especially on an undemanding site. Specialist arb and forestry stuff can get pretty expensive pretty quickly, so for a small operation versatile kit is pretty useful. As above, hiring equipment (and an operator if you don’t know how to make the best use of it) could well be more effective than buying gear for infrequent jobs.

You have the benefit of starting from scratch so good planning can help you make the most of things and minimise future problems and expenses. I’d say try browsing some of the arboriculture and forestry forums as well as the hobbyist woodland owners ones for general advice, read up as much as you can, and go and see your local commission people… Good luck though, it should be a fun experience.

Thanks Shibboleth, I would like something fast-growing. Variety is definitely a good thing, its featureless fields at the moment and it would be a shame to just plant it out in rows of the same species.

A couple of books I use for reference are “Woodlands – a practical handbook”, by Elizabeth Agate and published by The Conservation Volunteers and “Woodland Management” – A practical Guide by Chris Starr.

They have sections on “New woodlands” and a line in the Agate:
“…there is a strong commitment through the grant system of the Forestry Commission, the UKBAP and though other agencies and initiatives to new woodland planting of native, local provenance species in mixtures which imitate natural vegetation communities to create multi-purpose woodlands…”

Appendix C covers Grants and includes references to:
Info:
The Conservation Volunteers
Foresty Commission
LA Woodland or tree officer
local office of English nature/Countryside council for Wales/Scottish Nat Heritage
Royal Forestry Society which publish the “Grants for Tr££s” booklet

Woodland Grant scheme is administered by the FC

The Farm Woodland Premium Scheme supports creation of farm woodland by encouraging farmers to convert productive land to woodlands through annual payments to compensate for agricultural income foregone. These are normal for schemes already approved under the WGS.

England Rural Development Programme is run by DEFRA

The Woodlands Initiatives register is run by the Small Woodlands Association http://www.smallwoods.org.uk

In terms of equipment, I have got two chainsaws, a billhook (and pouch), and nicked by dad’s little trailer. I am also looking to buy a landrover defender for my next car. I would recommend working on a plan, and then having a go at it first before buying much equipment as you wont know quite yet what the challenges are that you might face. As they turn up you will then have a better idea what, if any, equipment would help you.

Sweet chestnut is a good broadleaf coppice species with a realistic harvest rotation of 15-20 yrs – 400 /acre at c. 3m spacing. Used for fencing. You can do 3yr rotation on sweet chestnut for walking sticks for e.g.

Alder, sycamore and ash can be harvested on 10-20 yr rotations.

Thanks Stoner, I will get those books ordered.

In equipment terms, I started off looking at small tractors/front loaders, having spent too much time this winter digging out my business premises. I have a mate who had a disaster with hire equipment recently, and I have paid landscapers to do work that I would happily do myself. We had that work done with a 3.5 ton digger and they seem to turn big jobs into small ones very nicely, and they’re obviously better for building trails.

Hopefully we’ve seen the last of the snow now so I have plenty of time to weigh up options.