SOME OF MY WILLOW POLLARDS - CROPPED RATHER EARLY

I can imagine the purists out there raising eyebrows and tutting away, but no nesting birds were disturbed and a man with a creative urge IS part of nature anyway.

These pollards were planted several years ago, cropped for the first three or four years then forgotten until now when they have developed a real head on them.

I think I will reserve this patch for developing some larger willow stems every now and then. It appears to work. All the willow harvested is going straight to the Malthouse where there's an enormous willow vase (or something) emerging during my stewarding sessions.