Lederman Trainee blog - November 22

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, 30 November 2022
Lederman Trainee blog - November 22
Rosie Hutchings and Jamie Parsons © Mark Newton

Mark Newton

The first three weeks of November were packed full of practical land management for Rosie and me. We’ve been practising chainsawing at Selwyns Woods with Reserves Manager Jamie Parsons, coppicing Hazel stools to make bundles of material for leaky dams. These dams will block up the woodland streams, and create wildlife-rich pools among the trees.

I also practised my cross-cutting skills clearing fallen trees at Iping Common with the guidance of Reserves Manager Steve Webster, while at Seaford Head with Reserves Officer Sarah Quantrill I cleared a new fenceline using a brush-cutter.

Rosie and I also had a four-day LANTRA approved tractor driving course at Wiston Farm, learning how to operate huge John Deere and robust Kubota vehicles. We moved bales of hay and shifted piles of manure around the farmyards and had an intensive lesson in the mechanics and maintenance of the tractors too. We thoroughly enjoyed the course and hope that we get to put our new skills into practice in our future roles.

Speaking of which, this is my last blog entry for Sussex Wildlife Trust, because the 18th of November was my last day as a Lederman Trainee. After 12 amazing months as a trainee ranger, I’ve been offered a golden opportunity to work as a Ranger in the Purbecks of Dorset for National Trust South-West!

I’m really excited about starting this new job, and looking forward to applying all that I’ve learned as a trainee ranger. That said, I’m also sad to be leaving Sussex Wildlife Trust and Leysdown Cottage, and I’ll miss the support and companionship of the wonderful staff there.

Without Dr Vera Dalley-Lederman’s generous legacy gift that funded this traineeship, I would have continued to face financial and educational barriers to getting into the conservation sector. I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity and immensely proud to have had a grounding in conservation with Sussex Wildlife Trust.

Mark on a tractor © Rosie Hutchings
Mark on a tractor © Rosie Hutchings

Rosie Hutchings

There has been so much going on in November, we have been all over the county. We undertook tractor training over at Wiston which I think I’d have to say has been one of the best weeks of the traineeship, it was so much fun. We practised driving two different tractors, hitching on trailers and various implements. Let’s just say, it has made me want to start saving for a tractor!

We joined reserve manager Jamie Parsons over at Filsham Reedbed earlier on this month, to work on brush-cutting the reeds the encourage healthy growth in the following year. The site has become very waterlogged, despite totally drying out over summer in the drought, so this made the brush cutting a little trickier!

I recently spent a day over at West Dean Woods with reserve manager Mark Monk-Terry experiencing a typical day on an active hazel coppice site. I was using a chainsaw to cut the material down and then the volunteers were carefully selecting the material and processing it using hand tools such as billhooks. It was such a lovely day with the volunteers, and just really cool to coppice knowing that all the material is put to good use locally. Materials may be used to create hurdles, woven fencing (which looked great on site, such a beautiful way of partitioning areas) and even pea sticks.

This week I was over at West Dean again and working with a coppice contractor and his fellow volunteer, I helped them to widen an area of ride to let more light in and halo some mature oak trees within the coups. Haloing is where you remove some of the surrounding trees, or in this case over-stood coppice, and bring light in. This will not only support the oaks but also the ride area will become a haven for wildlife. In particular butterflies will thrive in these sunny areas along with many native flora species. I really enjoyed this day, I’ve loved taking part in such a traditional ancient process, to manage woodlands for wildlife whilst also getting produce that can then even be used on site.

It’s farewell to my fellow trainee Mark this month, having successfully secured his new job. It will be very different without Mark and he will be truly missed. Good luck with your future in conservation Mark, the Purbecks are very lucky to have you looking after them.

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