What Coppicing Actually Is

Coppicing is one of the oldest forms of woodland management in Britain, and it is beautifully simple. Instead of felling a tree and killing it, you cut the stems close to the ground on a cycle, and the stump — known as a stool — sends up fresh shoots that regrow into a new crop of poles. Cut again in seven, twelve or twenty years' time, depending on the species, and the stool keeps producing almost indefinitely. Some coppice stools in Britain are thought to be many centuries old, quietly cut and regrown by generations of woodland workers.

The reason it matters goes well beyond timber. A coppiced wood is a rotating patchwork of light and shade, and that is exactly what a huge range of British wildlife needs. Cut a coupe in winter and the following spring brings a flush of bluebells, wood anemone and foxgloves into the light. Dormice, nightingales, fritillaries and a host of invertebrates all evolved alongside this cycle, and many have declined badly since coppicing fell out of fashion in the twentieth century.

Choosing Your Wood and Your Tools

For a first attempt, look for a wood that is already worked, and ask the owner or the site manager where you can help. Coppicing in a neglected wood is valuable, but a neglected wood is also full of hazards — dead limbs, tangled regrowth and unclear boundaries — so start somewhere with a bit of guidance.

Hazel, sweet chestnut, ash, field maple, willow and alder all coppice strongly. Oak, beech and birch are less reliable; they tend to coppice, but more slowly and less vigorously.

You need very little kit, but it must be sharp:

• A pruning saw or bowsaw for stems up to about 100mm across. Clean, fast and far safer than a chainsaw for a beginner.
• Billhook or a small axe for smaller stems and for tidying cuts. A sharp billhook is the traditional tool, and a joy once you get the knack.
• Loppers for brash and thin growth.
• Sturdy boots, gloves, eye protection and a helmet. A springy stem under tension can whip back hard.
• A first aid kit — and a phone signal check before you start.

Learn to sharpen. A blunt saw means you push, slip and cut yourself. Ten minutes with a file at the start of the day is the best safety investment you will make.

Timing: Cut in Winter, Rest in Summer

The traditional cutting season runs from roughly late October to early March, while the sap is down and the tree is dormant. Cut then and the stool regrows vigorously in spring. Cut in high summer and you stress the tree badly, expose the woodland floor to drying sun and disturb nesting birds.

Two hard rules. First, the Wildlife and Countryside Act protects nesting birds, so never cut between March and August without a check by someone who knows what they are looking for. Second, avoid cutting during hard frost — the wood is brittle and splits badly — and avoid waterlogged ground, which compacts underfoot and damages the soil structure you are trying to protect.

A good rotation to aim for is roughly eight to fifteen years for hazel, longer for chestnut. Divide the wood into coupes and cut one each year, so there is always a mix of ages.

Making the Cut

Work on one stool at a time and cut low — as close to the ground as you can manage, ideally within 50mm. High stumps die back and rot, and they make the next cut awkward.

Cut on a slight upward slope so rainwater runs off the surface rather than pooling in the wound. Take stems in the right order: clear the small stuff around the edge first so you have room to work, then take the bigger stems, leaning them away from you and into a clear space.

As you go, sort the material into piles:

• Poles for hurdles, bean sticks, handles, pea sticks and firewood.
• Brash for dead hedges, habitat piles and ground protection.
• Logs for the fire, stacked and seasoned for at least a year.

Leave the cut stool clean and clear of debris. Those new shoots need light, and a pile of brash smothering the stool will kill it.

The Reward: Fire, Food and a Healthier Wood

Come the following winter, your seasoned poles make excellent campfire fuel — hazel and ash burn hot and sweet, and coppice wood is far kinder to a woodland than a bag of kiln-dried imports. A simple campfire stew, a billy can of tea and a few foraged hedge mushrooms (only what you can identify with absolute certainty) taste better for the work behind them.

Then go back in late spring and look at what you have done. Nine times out of ten you will find the stool throwing up strong new shoots, and the cleared ground around it humming with insects and flowers that were not there before. That is the whole point of coppicing: it is not extraction, it is renewal. Cut well, cut low, cut in winter — and the wood will thank you for centuries.