My first coppice

My first day of conservation volunteering. I spent the day with the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust at the Brown Robin nature reserve just outside Grange-over-Sands. The picture shows my first effort at coppicing together with the tools of the trade: bow saw, billhook, branch lopper and thick gloves. It was a cold day but I was soon warm with all the effort required to saw, chop, drag and stack the wood. Until recently the most exercise my hands and arms got on a daily basis was hitting a return key or holding a cup of coffee. My arms are now so exhausted that I can barely pick up my well-earned mug of tea. I shall surely sleep like a log tonight - please excuse the pun!

I was amazed at the difference coppicing some hazel made; the light flooded in to what had been a pretty dense thicket and it wasn't long before a robin was busy exploring this new environment. We saw a couple of deer but alas no Hawfinch - perhaps next time.