Tree-mendous volunteers improve woodland park

Trees for Burnley volunteers joined Friends of Rowley, Burnley and Pendle Anglers and Burnley Council’s Green Spaces to carry out work around Rowley Lake in the Brun Valley.

June Evans, from Trees for Burnley, said: “Work undertaken included coppicing hazel, which is a very old traditional way of having a regular supply of wood for many different uses, such as fuel and building materials.

“Coppicing is normally carried out on a rotation of around 10 years. Today, coppiced wood is being used for woodburning stoves, wood chip or making garden furniture.

“As the woodlands are for amenity purposes, it is essential to manage them accordingly, so we were cutting back tree branches which were overhanging the footpaths and also thinning out trees, in particular to allow young oaks to form a nicely shaped tree and grow to maturity.

“We turned the brash into habitat piles for use by the likes of insects, small mammals, birds and hedgehogs.”

On November 13th, the group will be back at Rowley to plant young trees, which will display colourful blossom in spring and berries in the autumn and winter for birds.

June added: “The work is very satisfying and we welcome like minded people who would like to give something back to safeguard our superb woodland inn Burnley’s first forest park.”