About
A practical guide to planting and managing new woodlands for communities and individuals.
Hugh Dorrington – Owner of Aveland Trees
I graduated from Edinburgh University in 1977 with a BSc degree in Ecological Science with honours in forest management. A grant from the British Council then allowed me to study wildlife conservation in Poland for a year. While I was there, I made the first of many subsequent visits to the primeval Bialowieza Forest in Northeast Poland, the best example of a natural primeval forest in Europe. The forest made a strong impression on me and formed the basis in my mind about how natural European forests worked.
After spells with the Forestry Commission in Perthshire and Suffolk, I started my own tree nursery, Aveland Trees, in 1980. To make the best use of our time and to provide a steady income, we would collect tree and shrub seeds in the Autumn, contract plant new woods and hedges during the Winter, and grow young trees in the nursery during Spring and Summer. This basic pattern continued for the next 40 years.
Growing a new wood is a slow business. It takes time to try out new techniques and see if they are successful. My first woods were plantations of just a few timber tree species, planted in straight lines. Easy to fell and extract timber, but no scope for alternative markets over the next 100 years and little resilience to future environmental change. Later woodlands were planted as mixtures in curved rows, but still lacked a warm shrubby edge and thriving understorey. It has taken 40 years of practise, learning from my mistakes, to get woodland planting about right.
Meanwhile, I have been managing those early woods to grow good quality hardwood timber within a biodiverse woodland ecosystem. Developing the technique of thinning trees by girdling has helped me to achieve this.
It gives me great satisfaction to know that woodlands I have planted and nurtured will be enjoyed by thousands of people for, perhaps, hundreds of years to come. I hope that this guide will encourage others to grow new woodlands and feel the same way.
We owe it to future generations to plant trees that will provide valuable timber in 100 years. The oaks, ashes, maples, elms and other broadleaved trees that are the basis of new woodlands could also be the structure, flooring and furniture of our grandchildren’s homes.
