As November takes a sterner grip on bush and tree, and the late lingering leaves are stripped in blizzards from the oaks and ashes, now seems a good time to post a portrait of the wood in the declining months of the year....

Ealrly Autumn on West Way

The relatively warm weather has allowed the trees to stay green for longer than usual, and it is only  in early November that the crowns of the trees have begun to lose their foliage

Last year's coppice is almost unrecognisable compared with the scene in April this year. Regeneration has been excellent, with minimal deer damage to hazel and oak stools, and stems of four to six feet commonplace. A far cry from previous years, when muntjac repeatedly razed all new growth to ground level. Even when one has worked in this wood for a decade, one can still be surprised at just how fast coppiced stools will grow and bare ground is colonised.

2007 Coppice in October

Produce from the 2007-8 Coppice

Autumn is of course the season when coppicing starts a new stage in the rotation, and this work is now in full swing. The current coppice ( or more properly'coupe') spans some of the sloping ground between the highest part of High Path, and the Bridleway. This coupe has a distinct effect on the scenery and general atmosphere of the wood; as the regrowth is removed, a view of the Malvern and Abberley Hills will open up. A wood from which one can see for twenty miles has quite a different feel to one where the view stretches only as far as the nearest tree. We would like to make this view permanent, but this will require the approval of the Powers that Be, and it may not be easy to obtain.

The coupe itself is somewhat 'overstood' - a specialist term denoting a coppice which has been left uncut for too long. On the other hand the regrowth is extremely dense. Hence although the average quality of any one pole maybe rather poor, we have a great many to choose from. Yields so far have contained a large amount of wood of 4-5" diameter, which suggests that a lot of what we are harvesting will be sold as firewood.

An interesting feature of the coupe is a pile of logs left over from the previous cut, which was about ten years ago. These oak logs consist entirely of heartwood. It is a tribute to the durability of oak that these old trunks are still perfectly sound. They are, however, more valuable as habitat than as timber, and they will left where they lie.

Autumn brings out the woodland fungi. The wood is host, according to a survey from 1981, to about 150 known species, and is reckoned to have a particularly rich diversity of fungi. The commonest species at this time of the year are the Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria laccata), Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) and others with no familiar name such as Clitocybe nebularis, coriolus versicolor ( on rotting timber ) and boletus chrysentereon, which is so preyed upon by mildew that nearly all specimens are pure white, instead of their natural reds and yellows.

Pepper Wood is not, however, a worthwhile place for the gatherer of edible mushrooms. Few of the best edible species are found here. Nearly all of the commonly seen fungi are at best 'of no alimentary interest', and at worst fatally poisonous. The 1980 survey seems to have missed the fact that the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) grows here, sometimes in considerable numbers. So, quite apart from the fact that it is illegal to remove plant or fungal tissues from a Site of Special Scientific Interest, it is potentially highly dangerous. 50g of Death Cap is a fatal dose, and there is no reliable cure.

But enough of such morbid matters.

As Autumn progresses, a vital balance alters: The amount of water falling on the soil begins to exceed the amount lost through evaporation and transpiratiion. The result is mud, higher water levels in ponds and streams, and a general darkening of the wood as tree trunks take longer to dry after rain. On the other hand the removal of leaves shows up the growth made in coppiced areas, and those with eyes will be able to see that next year's leave are already well developed as buds. Nature never closes down, and while the pace of change certainly slows with falling temperatures, the trees of the wood are in an endless preparation for the next Spring. A consoling thought in the darkest days of Winter.

But to the walker Autumn brings muddy paths, occasional quagmires and dogs that need hosing down. It may be small consolation, but once the areas  worst affected by mud have made themselves known once more, we shall be laying more artificial walkways as an occasional respite from coppicing.