Yesterday was a big day in the woods. The big old veteran Beech
tree which has been a beautiful, wizened companion for me since moving to the
woods was felled. The tree had contracted Phytophthora Plurivora, and since the
site sees a heavy footfall due to the forest school, the Forestry Commission had
advised felling in order to make it safe.
Piers Clifford who
runs Fireside
Forest School organised a bit of an event in order to honour the loss
of this beautiful lifeform.
It turned out to be a
lovely day with sunshine, fry ups, children playing and
the excitement of limbs dropping and the magnificent final crash and
woosh of the giant falling.
I was too ill to play much of a part in the cutting and clear up. That was left in the kind and professional hands of Mani the tree surgeon, helped by Piers on the ground. I had the honour of operating the winch to pull the tree over after Mani had sawn in the felling cuts. He left a large hinge, because it was impossible to know how much sound wood remained within the trunk, so quite a lot of winching was required.
The winch point was directly in line with the direction of fall so I had an incredible view of the giant falling towards me, followed by a terrific gust of wind.
