Recently I went with colleagues Rod and Tom, and my fellow student Michael, to River Wood - an area of woodland owned by the RHS and situated between the Lower Woodland Walk and the River Torridge - to help with the felling of two young trees. Three years ago the Rosemoor team planted around 6,000 saplings of local indigenous tree species in this area as part of an on-going programme to return it to something resembling the original ancient woodland. While River Wood is not currently accessible to the public for safety reasons, the progress of the new planting can be seen from the Lower Woodland Walk that runs to the west of the Formal Garden.
The two trees in question, an Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and an Alder (Alnus glutinosa), were overhanging a path and needed to be removed. To prevent the tree from becoming 'hung up' on surrounding trees the Ash was felled using a standard felling cut called a dog tooth cut.
A rope was also secured to the tree by Rod and Michael in order to help guide its fall.
Katharine Cook, Rosemoor Trainee