Us vs the Laurel

For the last few days we’ve been trying to reduce the powers of some mighty runaway Laurel on one corner of the reserve.  This tree system seems to have been growing away unchecked for about 40 years, and has now swamped all the ground vegetation in the area, as well as some smaller trees.  It even seems to be contributing to the shape of a couple of Oak trees in it’s midst.

This job is an ideal role for me to practice my chainsaw skills on.  Plenty of leaning or lying compression/tension tests, as well as boring and dog tooth cuts.  Also, the Laurel is incredibly dense, and seems to be very weighty stuff, so misjudging a cut can lead to a stuck saw, or very dangerous kick back.  Thankfully, the biggest issue we experienced was trying to remove a number of branches tangled up in the Oak.  I’m sure the Oak was very relieved to see it go.

On Friday, I carried out the reserve’s winter bird transect, with Richard.  No Shrike this time, but we did get a little too excited when we thought we’d come across a Cirl Bunting.  Further research showed it to be a Reed Bunting with a rather more yellow than usual bib.  Still, that’s cool, we love Reed Buntings too.