And Welcome to m’new website fresh from California.  Looks the same to you?  Hopefully yes.  I’ve transferred from the free WordPress.com blog software to the serious sounding paid for WordPress.org.   I moved because the free WordPress has limitations – they keep it cheap by keeping it simple – so not much html allowed and no Java, very limited Paypal buttons etc. This also meant that I needed to find a host for the site and I’ve decided on Laughing Squid.  This host is based in San Francisco and leans towards art, culture and technology – just right for Flying Shavings huh?

Anyways, I’ve just about finished taking down coppice at Wood Nook and I’ve been finishing off another job there.

Using my new Austrian scythe to deal with a host of these:

Self-seeded Hawthorn saplings. Well, I say self-seeded, planted by birds in their droppings more like.  They were starting to take over an area which is like a glade in the woodland, and therefore valuable habitat.  A lot of them are very small, I think they are being nibbled by the rabbits which infest the area.

The scythe makes light work of controlling them

Notice the steep angle that makes the cutting easier and less brutal on the scythe with it’s slim ash snaith (handle).  The scythe blade is short and heavy (a bit like a light bill hook!) but even so, some of those saplings are a bit thick.  The trick then is to stand on them, bending them over, and then attack them with an upward sweep of the scythe before they  get straightened up again.  That sorts them out.

I suppose they will do the usual tree thing, recover and grow back stronger (“What does not kill us makes us stronger”)  But for now they are tamed a bit.

This should give the other flora a bit of a chance, the primroses are just starting to come out in this patch (but more in the shade).

But, man, it’s war out there.  No sooner has Spring sprung, than the little bitey creatures get going too -

Soon be Winter!