Farming and estate management is all about teamwork, and that shouldn’t only refer to the workforce directly employed on the farm or land.
Working closely with a trusted contractor can also pay dividends, particularly when they share your aims and understand what you are looking to achieve.
When Steve Clout, estate manager at Twyssenden Manor, Goudhurst, wanted to build a new pheasant pen on the edge of a small area of woodland to support the estate’s shooting enterprise, he asked South East Forestry to thin the trees so that the project could go ahead.
Jon Davies, who runs the highly regarded forestry business with partner Dave Holmes, opened up the formerly dark and overstood woodland, bringing light into the canopy and providing a better environment for the birds as well as clearing space for the new pen.
That led to a discussion with Steve about the other areas of woodland at Twyssenden Manor, which Jon said had not been thinned or managed since well before new owner Lloyd Amsdon took over the estate, which is home to 300 breeding sheep as well as the game shoot.
Jon and Dave decided to combine thinning the oak with regeneration felling of disease-susceptible spruce and ash across the estate to allow more light in and give the better quality oaks and other trees more space to thrive. At the same time, they opened up the rides, providing better, drier access for shooting parties.
The result is a healthier environment, not just for the remaining trees but for insects, butterflies and plants, with more light reaching the forest floor and better access throughout. “I was pleasantly surprised to find that the better trees within the woodland had not suffered from squirrel damage over the years,” said Jon. “Those quality trees now have an opportunity to reach their full potential as they are no longer being crowded out.”
As an additional benefit to the estate, South East Forestry is paying for the timber it is removing as it improves the woodland, which means Twyssenden Manor is reaping a financial reward as well as benefiting from better managed trees.
“In most cases the value of the wood we extract allows us to pay the landowner for the work we do,” said Jon. “We use as much as we can for construction or furniture making, a lot of it for fencing and the rest for firewood or, as a last resort, woodchip for biomass boilers.”
Because South East Forestry has its own woodyard and sawmill at Hawkhurst, it can put the timber it harvests to the best possible use, supplying oak beams and other high quality building materials to a wide customer base, alongside logs for winter warmth.
With teamwork in mind, South East Forestry has since supplied Steve with sleepers for lining a number of ponds on the estate, along with sweet chestnut and oak decking for other projects. “From the initial enquiry about creating more light and warmth for the pheasants, this has developed into a supportive business relationship that has benefited both parties,” said Dave. “And that’s what we are always seeking to do.
“Our approach to forestry is to work in partnership with the landowner to create a healthy, revitalised woodland, provide useful income to the client and channel as much of the timber as possible to high-end, long-term uses that keep the carbon locked up.”
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