Scotney Castle - second visit

Back at Scotney Castle on Saturday, for the second visit with SEHLS. After the rain we have experienced over the last couple of weeks the ground is saturated and all vehicles had to be left in the car parks. The field next to the hedge was very wet and swishy underfoot but fortunately did not turn completely to mud around the hedge itself. We were working on the second section of the hedge that we started on our last visit in October but this section had a different structure and content, being a mix of Hawthorn and Hazel with one or two other species occurring randomly throughout. There was some self seeded rose and oddly one or two spindly Beech saplings.

I took the first cant which meant no laying off - don't know why this was left by those who arrived before me, as it was no better or worse than the other cants. I just had to undo some of the binding from the end of the previously laid section and start laying straight into the existing stakes - bonus! 

As it rained on and off for most of the day I didn't take as many photos as I had intended.

You can see from the photo below that the hedge had been allowed to grow up uncut but had recently - possibly last year - been flailed at about eight feet. This combined with the grazing of the sides of the hedge by the Sussex cattle meant that there were a lot of sturdy stems but not much side or top growth...

...and you can see it was much the same all down the hedge, although it was rather thin under the conifer (Scots Pine?) at the far end.

Looking down the hedge you get an impression of the species mix and density of the stems. On the right is a large Hawthorn with a 5-6 inch base and a lot of side stems, and on the left a Hazel stool with half a dozen straight poles and no side growth. What I did was to remove most of the large Hawthorn and lay the smaller stems in front and behind this, then lay most of the Hazel - but I did take out a couple of the straight poles for use as stakes.

In this shot you can see that one of the earlier large Hawthorns (right of centre) has been much reduced and laid. The sides look and bit bare for South of England style at this point but there was just sufficient material coming up to cover most of the pleachers.

A bit later...

 

By the time we got to the staking and binding stage the rain had cleared and the sun was out. Quite pleased with my finished cant and with the fact that, although hedges like this can be a struggle, you get the satisfaction that the hedge is rejuvenated and remodelled, which has has many benefits for wildlife, as well as improving the appearance and making the hedge easier to manage in future; and on this note I found, in my cant, what one of the NT wardens identified as a disused Dormouse nest just off the ground in a Hazel stool.

This last shot is looking up the two sections of hedge with binding in progress.

Back to Back Weekend

A few months back it seemed like a good idea to do two hedge laying sessions back to back, good practice for the Nationals next weekend etc.; after the first session on Saturday it seemed like madness.

Saturday was SoE's first training day of the season at Scotney Castle. As there were only a few trainees most of the cutters were laying a nine yard cant on their own or in pairs. The hedge was rather odd as it contained some Hawthorne of twenty five or more years together with much younger Field Maple, Wayfaring Tree, Cherry and Hazel. Perhaps an old neglected hedge planted up more recently. it had been flailed a few times at about five foot and then allowed to grow on to about ten feet high.

Although it had rained heavily overnight the ground was well drained and did not turn to mud underfoot.

Except for the removal of a couple of heavy heals I laid with hand tools, finding my newly re-handled 4lb Kent pattern axe very useful.

Lunch time and most cutters were half to two thirds through laying stems.

I was quite pleased with the final result. A couple of pleachers showing but stock proof - and speaking of stock, notice some splendid Sussex cattle in the background.

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The Hampshire Hedge Laying Championships were held on Sunday near Medstead. Fortunately the overnight rain had cleared by the time we arrived on site but the hedge to be laid had been changed due to conditions. The new hedge was not that tall having been flailed not that long ago but it was alongside a concrete roadway and with no ditch it was relatively dry. The down side was that we were laying right to left and there was a wire sheep fence on the other side of the hedge - so not good for right handers.

 

 There were classes for Novice, Midland Open and South of England Open. My cant was typical of the rest of the hedge; about sixty percent Hawthorn with a mix of Hazel, Dogwood and, as you can see in the left of the photo below, some Wayfaring Tree. Dogwood is not a favourite of mine when laying as it tends to be spindly and results in thin sections in the finished hedge - see later.

I laid with hand tools and though rather tired from the previous day, really enjoyed the cutting and building of the hedge.

About two thirds of the way through I was ahead of time and just about to get to the section of Dogwood. We were to lay at three foot six to the binder tops, which was helpful in view of the original height of the hedge.For a change this hedge contained very little bramble or rose and because of its age and height there was little extraneous material to be removed.

This is the finished product. Stock proof but lacking in material at the front in one section. I found that laying back to front meant that I was concentrating too much on building the back of the hedge rather than the front.

 

A reasonable stake-line and good build width. I was reasonably happy with what I had achieved and managed a third place.

Here is Clive's hedge with the man himself giving a final check to make sure the pleachers are well covered. Good work and worthy of his second place - and he was only a whisker away from first place.

And the winner of the SoE open, and overall champion, was Mike with this great effort. He does build a nice hedge and I must spend some time watching how he does it. There are some uncovered pleachers nearest to the camera but his neighbour was the last in the Midland section so there was little Mike could do about that.