Logging In Symondshyde

The great Symondshyde Wood is part of the Hatfield Estate with the wood comprising of mainly pine trees which were planted in the late 1950’s & early 1960’s. There is a small but increasing population of broadleaf trees growing.

About every five years contractors carry out selective thinning of the woodland to allow more crown space for the best quality trees, and to create areas for new and younger trees to thrive amongst the forest under-storey. The process is called continuous cover forestry and it has many ecological and landscape benefits. The aim is to create a mixed age, mixed species woodland for the future since a mixed woodland is the most resilient to pests and diseases.

All the sawn logs are collected up and are made into chips for the floors of stables or cut up for pallets or wood for timber merchants.