Woodland winner by a nose as racecourses clamour for timber

Thousands of birch branches are being harvested in Ingleby Greenhow, near Stokesley, to help the Forestry Commission to restore the wood.

The timber will be used to repair and build racecourse fences as the jump season gets into its winter stride, whilst giving the back-to-nature project a boost. Forester Ian Blair said: “We have a long-term aim to restore ancient woodland in Ingleby and broaden habitats.

“Birch is being harvested in a 25-acre area which was cleared of conifers a decade or so ago and which is now flourishing with alder, rowan, willow, oak as well as birch.

“But it’s important that the faster-growing birch is thinned out occasionally so it doesn’t squeeze out the other trees. Using the timber for horse racing fences is an excellent solution.” Nearly half of the woodland’s 1,365 acres will revert to native broadleaves by removing conifers planted in the post war years. But conifers will continue to be grown elsewhere to produce timber.

The plans will also protect 197 non-scheduled biological and archaeological areas including the site of a grass snake colony – the only location in 56,000 acres of public woodland in North Yorkshire where the reptile is known to occur.

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