SEHLS Annual Competition

Sunday saw the SEHLS annual competition - yes, the day following the Patron's competition. Taking place on the Angmering Estate, West Sussex within the South Downs National Park there could not have been a more beautiful setting for a hedge laying competition. The weather behaved itself, with a bright frosty start and, although it clouded over later, it stayed dry until we reached the pub for lunch and prizes. The Skylarks sang, Buzzards soared over the woods and without the background roar of chainsaws (a hand tools only competition) it was a very peaceful and enjoyable day.

The hedge itself was some twelve or so years old, double planted and consisting -in the veteran section - of Hawthorn with some Hazel. Some cants at the top of the hill had more Hazel and consequently more stems to the yard. The hedge had been fenced against rabbits and whilst this had in the main been removed, some of the wire remained in the ground. There was little field layer, except ivy in some cants and no bramble or rose. Unfortunately the hedge had been flailed more than once at about eight feet producing some nasty stag-horns but then left to grow on about another three feet.

I didn't take any photos for a while as I was concerned about time but in fact there was plenty thanks to the lightness of the hedge and the lack of clearing out to be done before laying.

Everyone finished in good time and the standard was very high. The novice class in particular must have been difficult to judge as they had all done an exceptional job - pity I didn't think to take some photos of their cants; this however is a shot up the hedge from the champions and senior sections, with the veterans and novices at the top.

 

Patron's Competition 2015

After last years cancellation due to heavy rain we were hoping for a dry day for the Patron's Competition and we were granted this wish - at least until a hail shower within the last hour. The hedge was close to, and similar in nature to the 2013 hedge being about fifteen years old, mainly Hawthorn with some Field Maple and Hazel. I believe 48 cutters were present, cutting Midland, South of England, North Somerset and two Welsh styles.

As you can see the hedge was not at all heavy, with little field layer, no rose or bramble and mercifully it had not been flailed or cut at any time.

Whilst the hedge had been planted in two rows, in some places the plants on the field side had died or had poor growth. In the example below the clump of Field Maple may well have stunted the growth on the north side.

Whilst a hedge of this age and structure could be presumed to hold few challenges, in every cant there are always some difficult stems. In trying to make a thick hedge one strives to keep as much as possible but twisted and interlocked stems can make for some difficult decisions.

Looking up the South of England cants at the end of the session...

...and I managed a reasonably straight stake line

A flavour of the relaxed and jovial side of this event is shown by this Midland competitor from Lancaster flying the flag of John of Gaunt over his cant.

And finally a shot of Alan finishing off his Midland cant.

Avery Hill hedge number four - the big one

The South London chapter of SHG have in recent years worked on three hedges at the Avery Hill campus of The University of Greenwich but none of the size and complexity of this one. Running almost uninterrupted for 170 meters down the side of the football pitches and adjacent to one of the main access roads on the campus, it is a planted, amenity-style hedge but with very little Hawthorn and dominated by substantial Field Maples. 

The other species in the hedge are Hazel, Spindle, Dog Rose, Holly, Privet and Guelder Rose, plus a few self-seeded Oak and Sycamore.

     

As well as two large gaps that had been deliberately left in the planting - one of which will be staked-through for later planting up - there were areas of severely reduced growth due to the overshadowing of the large maples.Also, the Spindle and Guelder Rose had not done well on the heavy soil and block-planting meant other areas of poor growth.

The object of the exercise was to bring, what was fast turning into a line of trees, under control and produce a thick wildlife-friendly hedge. Regular SHG(SL) member Fred being temporarily out of action, Ian, Tony and myself set about this last Monday with the hope - on my part - of completing the job within the week. I soon realised that I may have underestimated the task. There was a considerable amount of wood to be removed and whilst the remaining maples and Hazel went down well the Holly and especially the Privet took an age to work through. 

However, the weather was kind, with only some light drizzle on Wednesday and with ten man-days worked by the end of Thursday we had 100 meters laid, staked and bound. Friday was a day of rest and boy did I need it - although I did have to go to Crossness to take some willows out of the reed beds there.

Must also mention here the excellent stakes and binders supplied by Paul Mathews. These were a mix of red Birch and Hazel and very consistent in size throughout, enhancing the look of the finished hedge.

 

So, we're back on Monday to finish off the job, hopefully by the end of Tuesday and I'll update the blog after that.

Skinny hedge made good

Out with SHG on Saturday working on 50 odd meters of hedge along a footpath near Beare Green. Situated at the bottom of a sloping field and under the shade of some large Oaks on the other side of the path in a neglected hazel coppice with standards. A sleet shower mid-morning brought a winter feel to the day.

The hedge had been planted and was made up of Hawthorn and Hazel with some Field Maple, willow sp. and Blackthorn. Growth had been compromised by the amount of shade and perhaps the damp cold soil conditions, so that the stems of Hawthorn and Hazel were tall, stretching for the light, but the Hawthorn lacked side growth. Other than the willow - which had not been planted - the other species had hardly grown at all, stunted by unsuitable soil conditions and the nearby Oaks.

Left the camera in the car so didn't take any 'before' shots but here are some of the finished job.

A sweep round the corner to soften the start. The hedge being rather thin, the challenge was to get some body into it, and to aid this we set the height somewhat lower than the usual 4 feet. With the exception of competition work there is no fixed height for binders in the South of England style and these should be set to reflect the amount of material in the hedge, its location and purpose.

The stakeline went OK for once..

This is not the full length of the hedge but gives a view along about two thirds.

SEHLS at Ticehurst

Out with SEHLS near Ticehurst on Saturday. Another wet day, although it did brighten up in the afternoon - I don't mind working in the rain but do dislike having wet gloves.

This was an interesting job, as the hedge was around part of a smallholding, and whilst in parts it was a planted two-row hedge of mostly Hawthorne with a few stems of Beach, Spindle and Field Maple, other sections were the remains of an old and overgrown garden hedge full of exotic species.

I was working on one of the more straightforward sections and you can see that the hedge was about eight feet high and had been cut several times at about five foot. A bit tangled and knotted but generally light and easy to lay with hand tools. The only minor problem was that we were laying left handed.

Getting it down now and trying to cover the pleachers with what little material there is. Trimmed off the lower branches of the Oak standard but this had suffered some damage in the past at about five foot putting a kink in the trunk and making it a little uneven. Still raining, and getting muddy now.

 

Hedge laid, weather clearing up and just a bit of tidying up to do. 

 This shot shows most of the main run of hedge but there were three other sections, all different in character which unfortunately I didn't photograph.

 

Root and Back Laying

Out with SEHLS on Saturday at Rotherfield. For a change the weather was cold, dry and sunny although the recent rain had left the fields and tracks waterlogged and very soon the area around the hedge turned to mud.

There were two sections of hedge being tackled and I was with a small group of six working on an old and much bashed-about hedge that needed rejuvenating. As you can see from the photo below the hedge was a continuation of a trimmed section, about twelve feet high and next to a redundant farm building.

It had been cut at various heights in the past resulting in multiple stems and a very tangled upper section.

One of the first plants I had to lay in my cant was a Hawthorn where the stem had two sizeable roots either side of where the hinge would normally be but had rotted away underneath. This could not be laid in the normal way so I severed the root on the far side and then cut down the stem so that it was held by just the root on this side.

This allowed the stem to be laid over, retaining the root to keep the plant alive and leaving the now separated heal to the right to form a new plant. It's not laid right down yet as it is being held up by the laid-off stems out of shot to the left.

The next problem was a large five stemmed stool of what I think is red-stemmed willow - not easy to see from the photo but this years growth was a deep red colour. This stool had been much hacked about in the past and if there had been more material around it I might have just laid the stem on the front left and then trimmed the stool down nearer ground level. However, I needed to fill in the gaps so I laid all the stems bar one and back-laid the one on the right. This can be difficult if the stem is in any way brittle as it has to be bent back at an acute angle, but luckily this one behaved itself. A few contorted stems of Blackthorn can be seen on the right of the photo and with multiple pleaches these were brought in to fill the gaps.

A bit further down the cant was a large old Hawthorn, which again can prove challenging but this one was sound and not too brittle and went down well.

The hedge was so tangled in places a bit of climbing was required to free it up.

By the time we got round to the final clear up the light was fading and it was getting cold. This hedge had presented us with a number of challenges and at times it seemed an impossible task but in the end we made a great job of it and breathed new life into an old neglected hedge.

Cherkley Court - Second Session

On a somewhat surprisingly - in this rather mild early winter - frosty morning SHG were back at Cherkley Court. This time we had two hedges to lay within the complex. One was in the 'car park' and the other at, what will become in due course, the main entrance. I was assigned to the latter, which was a maiden double row hedge of some ten or so years; mostly Hawthorne but with a few Field Maple and Spindle mixed in. There was no field layer to speak of and, other than some Clematis vitalba tangling the tops, there was no impediment to laying the mostly 2 to 4 inch stems.

This piece of work was difficult to photograph due to the proximity of a rather busy road and the fact that we were working on the north side on what was a very bright sunny day.

It would appear that the hedge had been cut at about four foot at some time in the last few years but was otherwise unmolested. So it was easy enough work and handled in the main with hand tools.

Although this hedge was planted as a double row, many of the whips had not taken and there were many sections of single row stems and some sizeable gaps. In the photo below Con is healing-in some whips in one such gap. Note the heavy frost on the grass in the background. Even a short lived frost such as this has a surprising effect on the interaction of metal cutting tools and living wood. There is a distinct sound and brittleness to the cut, and 'Yorkshires' have a pronounced ring to them when cutting the pleach. I'm told that after prolonged periods of hard frost - not something we get to often nowadays - even young stems become so brittle that they are impossible to cut and lay without them breaking off.

As I said, not great photos due to the bright sun coming from the 'wrong' direction, but this shot shows the finished section from the East. This will be mirrored on the West side of the entrance when we lay that side in January.

 

Another shot looking East, with the strong sunlight makeing the hedge look rather thinner than it actually is, but with a nice stake line - and the frost still on the grass at 1300hrs.

 

Looking from inside the entrance you get a different perspective and I wish I had taken more shots from this side, although the brash rather obscures the view.