Distressing Trees (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

Many woods have a poor profile of trees, providing few natural nest cavities. I would like to know of any experiences and research into assisting nature in creating a better profile. I call this 'distressing trees' on the basis of doing damage to trees which will create some interesting habitat for nesting / breeding.

My interest is not just birds, but also insect populations, which may also affect the bird populations.

To date my only leads are

- bee blocks ( which are more akin to nest boxes)
- some individual experiences of people who have done their own bit to help woodpeckers, by drilling into live trees (TW scout camp!)
- ring barking to create dead standing trees ( which takes a long time and is hard work)

In principle I am looking for an operation that is cheaper than putting up nest boxes, which are often too specific, and pretty artificial in the long run. My current idea is literally drilling a large number of holes into living trees, and observing what takes advantage of the additional habitat. Perhaps I should point out that the small reserve I help with has 20,000 pine trees that are basically far too uniform, young and healthy.

All help and leads welcome.

cheers

MartinW

martinwilkinson said:

Hi all,

Many woods have a poor profile of trees, providing few natural nest cavities. I would like to know of any experiences and research into assisting nature in creating a better profile. I call this 'distressing trees' on the basis of doing damage to trees which will create some interesting habitat for nesting / breeding.

My interest is not just birds, but also insect populations, which may also affect the bird populations.

To date my only leads are

- bee blocks ( which are more akin to nest boxes)
- some individual experiences of people who have done their own bit to help woodpeckers, by drilling into live trees (TW scout camp!)
- ring barking to create dead standing trees ( which takes a long time and is hard work)

In principle I am looking for an operation that is cheaper than putting up nest boxes, which are often too specific, and pretty artificial in the long run. My current idea is literally drilling a large number of holes into living trees, and observing what takes advantage of the additional habitat. Perhaps I should point out that the small reserve I help with has 20,000 pine trees that are basically far too uniform, young and healthy.

All help and leads welcome.

cheers

MartinW

Click to expand...

Interesting idea!! The reserve sounds suspicously like a commercial Pine plantation, hence same structure,stocking density and age range= suspended succession.

For management options I would suggest selective thinning,retaining some pines, but, try to get an understory, structure and some diversity of species,slowly and naturally.

The problem with drilling or damaging trees is that once damaged the decay process takes over and pheromones are released that encourage decay, and insect attack, there are a couple of things in our ecosystems that you do not want to encourage (honey fungus for example!)

Also in terms of biodiversity a Pine plantation is a lot better than some habitats, has it been monitored and surveyed??

I used a chainsaw and made circular cuts 1-2 inches deep into the bark at the base of oaks and juniper. This kills the trees and turns them into snags, which are atractive for insects, birds, and small mammals. 7-8 snags of older trees per acre should do the trick.

"- ring barking to create dead standing trees ( which takes a long time and is hard work" - as you suggested.

But it's not hard work, merely one afternoon of fun.

Hi,

thanks for this.

It is actually not a commercial forest, but the self seeding occurred very much at the same time, through changed management and a large fire. Followed as you suggest by suspended succession.

Selective thinning and other improvements are on-going techniques used.

This is heathland, and historically has been common land ( local population had rights to 'extract' fuel, bedding, etc and to use for grazing.) . It is very difficult to use the word 'natural' as it is really man made in the first place.

It is monitored for birds, larger insects, reptiles and fungi. Other plants and insects are less frequently observed. Though it is a little difficult to quite know what to expect as a norm.

Personally I have no problem with decay taking over. Indeed this is largely the intention, up to the point of having a good profile. Obviously there is honey fungus present already in some areas. I guess that I would expect in a 'steady state' for there to be 10% of trees as dead standing trees, and we have areas that are nothing like this. [ assume normal life of 100 years and 10 years for dead tree to fall? ] The ring barking already being done involves more total damage to the trees, than drilling.


But I take your point that one needs to be careful.

The introduction of nestboxes appears to mostly have increased the population of tits, but also with a small and 'nice' increase in Redstarts. This certainly is not 'natural', but does show that these populations were limited by lack of cavities for nesting. What else is limited also?

I guess one of my points is that nest boxes are too targetted at specific bird species, and does not allow for a more varied use by birds and other species. Hence the search for alternatives.

cheers

MartinW

ta brandreth said:

Interesting idea!! The reserve sounds suspicously like a commercial Pine plantation, hence same structure,stocking density and age range= suspended succession.

For management options I would suggest selective thinning,retaining some pines, but, try to get an understory, structure and some diversity of species,slowly and naturally.

The problem with drilling or damaging trees is that once damaged the decay process takes over and pheromones are released that encourage decay, and insect attack, there are a couple of things in our ecosystems that you do not want to encourage (honey fungus for example!)

Also in terms of biodiversity a Pine plantation is a lot better than some habitats, has it been monitored and surveyed??

Click to expand...

Hi Otto,

thanks for this.

We tend to use hand saws and hand axes to ring bark the pines. ( health and safety issues mostly). We take off say 6 inches of bark all round, together with a good helping of the underlying wood. One might expect the tree to die immediately, but in practice with these pine, they only start to look sickly after 2-3 years, and I don't think we have any that one would describe as snags ( dead standing trees ) after half a dozen years.

This may be associated with the conifer trying to cover damage with resin, and being economical in water and leaf production. It may be easier with deciduous trees?

While I am not averse to killing trees to generate cavities for nesting, I am sure that there are many cavities in older and living trees, which might be better habitat than just snags.

However I have no data to back up these ideas as yet. hence the research.

cheers

MartinW

Otto McDiesel said:

I used a chainsaw and made circular cuts 1-2 inches deep into the bark at the base of oaks and juniper. This kills the trees and turns them into snags, which are atractive for insects, birds, and small mammals. 7-8 snags of older trees per acre should do the trick.

"- ring barking to create dead standing trees ( which takes a long time and is hard work" - as you suggested.

But it's not hard work, merely one afternoon of fun.

Click to expand...