Odiham Common Coppicing

This week we've been coppicing the hazel at Odiham Common. We cut the hazel on a rotation so there are stands of lots of different ages. The various ages of hazel is really important in maintaining a rich biodiversity with the freshly cut hazel allowing light in which is great for wild flowers and nectar feeding insects. The more shaded older hazel is great for hazel dormice. The hazel grows really straight so we cut the stems up into lengths and we will use some of them to lay the hedge at Fleet Pond next to Fugelmere Marsh