Me, Myself and I

Following on from Mick's Introduction to his life and works, I now add my own;

My name is Tom Wood and I am currently employed as the National Trust Warden for the Teign valley properties on the north east edge of Dartmoor (the nicest bit).

I grew up in rural Somerset on a large dairy farm owned by my father and his two brothers, who saw the changes in farming and sold the business in 1992.

We moved to Devon to a lovely place near Tiverton which lies in the heart of a small NT propety called Buzzards which is managed by the Wardens of Killerton estate. I spent most of the rest of my childhood playing in rivers, climbing trees, building dens and generally getting frequently muddy.

I was lucky enough to go to Blundells school in Tiverton, and left not really knowing what I wanted to do but knowing I wanted to be outdoors, and not bored. A gap year followed during which I went sailing on the Tall ships and started working for a local farm producing organic beef from red devon cows, a fantastic place which had not changed in the last 100yrs or so.

And so I started at Southampton University and a degree in Environmental Science, and left that 3 years later even more sure that I did not want to work in an office but still not sure how to achieve it. One day my Mum arrived back to say that she had just met a National Trust warden in the woods and he had suggested I try looking in the Countryside Jobs Service. That was how I started as a volunteer for the National Trust in north Cornwall, looking after the coast between Boscastle and Morwenstow. From there followed my first paid job for the NT at a small property called Ormesby Hall in north Yorkshire, and then to Buttermere in the Lake District.

I enjoyed my time in the north, made many good friends and learned many new things, and worked in some beautiful areas but it never felt truly like home, so when I saw an advert in spring 2007 to work in the Teign valley adjacent to castle Drogo (which vies with Cragside as my favourite NT property) I applied and managed to appear sane enough on the interview to get the job.

So here I am, working in one of the most stunning (probably most stunning) parts of Devon and loving every minute.

Virtual Tour - Finch Foundry

Explore this fascinating little property by viewing http://www.dartmoormoortours.co.uk/dartmoor-attractions/dartmoor-tourist-attractions/finch-foundry-the-national-trust and watching the virtual tour - then come and see the real thing and experience the machinery in action.

Another Sean Hellman video - a making a spoon!

Another great video from his Dartmoor craftsman - a stop motion video with 130 frames.

Would you let this rabble loose in your woods?

On Sunday 6th December 2009 this motly band of reprobates from Scoriton descended upon Hembury Woods and stripped it bare of firewood!

Seriously though, they were here to help the warden do some work and in return take away the cut wood for their firewood supplies. The work area was a small belt of hazel coppice adjacent to the road and the top car-park. From monitoring of the area for dormice we knew they frequented the area so had to ensure that work done was with their presence in mind.

What we wanted to do was remove some of the larger trees to allow more light into the understorey and the ground, whilst also thinning out some of the poorer oak from around those oak with better forms and crowns.

The essential thing underpinning all of this was that enough aerial routes were left for the dormice to move around the area.They thrive best in areas of dense hazel and bramble with a scattering of overhead trees. The more varied the woodland for dormice the better availability of food sources.

One half of the work area is more open than the other, less hazel was present, but what remains has aerial links to the roadside hedge which we know the dormice use. The other half of the work area has retained most of its hazel, and all we did was carefully tease out some of the larger oak and birch overshadowing it. The aerial connectivity between the roadside hedge and a large bramble thicket in the paddock was unbroken.

Some of the hazel is in the process of senescence and at some point some will need coppicing, but the key with managing areas of woodland with dormice present is to do small areas leaving enough left to avoid completely altering an area where dormice are present.

Why do anything some may ask? Because as the overhead canopy increases it shades outs the ability for hazel to grow thick and bushy and also suppresses bramble which is fantastic for dormice as well as birds. Ground flora increasingly decreases under shade as well.

On the day in question whilst i felled the larger birch and oak the Scoriton mob kept watch for the public, loaded the cut wood to take away, and using a chipper i had brought, chipped the brash (the smaller branchwood). Why not leave the brushwood as habitat piles some of you would correctly ask? Well, so close to the car-park in an area where we have had people camping and having fires, the assumption was that said piles would soon become material for campfires so we disposed of it there and then, and at some point will collect the bulk of the chippings leaving the remainder for the wood ants, who love these ready made mounds ( wood ant nests also benefit from the extra light afforded by opening up the canopy).

All in all it was a successful day with only one hail storm when luckily we were having hot soup and rolls that Aud-maritt had brought up for us all. A big thankyou to Paul and Kathy, Paul and Ali, and John. P.S Next time i say 'ready' try looking at the camera John.

May I introduce myself

Hello!
I thought that after putting quite a lot of information on here, it might be a good idea for you to get some idea of who it was doing it.
My name is Mick Jones and I am the Area Warden for North Dartmoor. I am responsible for the countryside and the staff that manage the Teign Valley Properties and Lydford gorge a total area of about 1700 acres.

Originally from a small village called Clavering near Saffron Walden in Essex, where apart from a time in Thailand, I spent most of my childhood playing in the fields, meadows and woodlands around our home. I started work at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge and stayed there till just before my 30th birthday. I then decided I needed a change and went to Seale Hayne College in Devon and did a HND in Rural Resource Management.

After this I decide that the National Trust had a good reputation for countryside management and started full time volunteering with the local warden and working with a team of long term unemployed on a government training scheme the 'ET gang'.
After about a year I was lucky enough to get a 6 month seasonal contract and then took over running the ET gang. About 3 years later I was again lucky enough to gain the new post of warden for the Teign Valley Properties based on the Castle Drogo Estate. I have now been with the Trust for nearly 20 years and have enjoyed virtually every minute despite wind, rain and snow while working on one of, if not the most beautiful National Trust property in Devon.

My role is now more managerial and I spend more time in the office but I still get to do some practical work. But I am happy that there is a good team of country side staff out there looking after things.

Over the years I have specialised in woodland management, deer management and rural skills and am continuing to find life with the National Trust constantly stimulating and challenging.

Winter Tree Identification

Thursday 21 January, 1-3pm: Learn to identify some of the key native tree species in the Plym Valley. Adult £4, child £2 (children must be accompanied by an adult). Meet at Plym Bridge grid ref SX 524 585. Booking essential on 01752 341377 or dartmoor@nationaltrust.org.uk.

Timber Biomass Harvesting

To continue the story of the biomass harvesting on the Castle Drogo estate. After the harvester has done its work, the forwarder moves in collects the cut timber and transport it to the roadside. It is important that the timber is handled well and kept off the ground as much as possible as soil and stones can later damage the chipper and the boiler.

It is surprising that these big machines do so little damage to the ground in the woods. This is due mainly to the huge wheels spreading the weight and the driver trying to move around on the brash from the felled trees, which acts like a carpet protecting the soil. In one way it is good that the soil gets cut up a bit as this exposes seed in the soil to the light and this will help new trees and plants to grow and help regenerate the woodland.

The contract has now finished and some 600 tonnes of wood has been stacked. This is enough to heat Castle Drogo for over a year. The wood will be left to dry and will to be chipped in about 12 months when its moisture levels will have dropped to around 30%. If the wood is burnt at higher moisture levels the burn is very inefficient as a lot of energy is needed to drive off the moisture there also tends to be a lot more tar deposited in the chimney. You can see in the picture the larger timber which is of good qualty and was sold for sawmilling and the smaller low quality chipwood at the back

The next task is to start establishing the sustainable coppice crop on the areas that have been felled.

Finch Foundry on the national 10 o clock news!

Well what a day of weather it was yesterday! Amusing little story around the Devon snow was that BBC national 10 o clock news came from Sticklepath and the reporter was standing outside the NT's property Finch Foundry which historically made agricultural tools. The reporter suggested we open the Foundry up again commercially so we could make shovels to clear all the snow.

I had a close shave - I decided to work from home on account of the Met Office severe weather warnings - I felt a bit guilty during the day as the weather was ok in Exeter - so glad I didnt go to Parke in Bovey Tracey though - if I had I definately would have been caught in the Haldon Hill chaos for hours on end on the way home. One collegue from Killerton was stuck there for 6 hours .......See More

Wood worker Sean Hellman from Ashburton

Local woodworker and photographer Sean Hellman from Ashburton makes a fan bird - how cool is that!

Dartmoor podcasts on iTunes

You can now download and subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes, press here