In more than 30 years working for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust I’ve grown quite attached to many of the nature reserves in our care, and have fond memories down the years. One site I'm particularly fond of is Farndon Willow Holt, which sits next to the River Trent in the village, where we’ve recently harvested a crop of cricket bat willows. The latest harvest brought memories flooding back, not least of the difficulties the team faced when planning to harvest a previous crop around 20 years ago.
Having acquired the site in the mid-80s following the death of the previous owners Leaver and Brenda Howitt, the Trust slowly began restoring this former working willow holt which is also home to a collection of willow species curated by the Howitts – acclaimed botanists who authored the last full account of the county’s flora back in the 1960s.
Identifying dozens of willow species within a tangled mess of aging and fallen willows was only possible thanks to the expertise and commitment of Mark Woods, then working at Nottingham Trent University’s Brackenhurst Campus. Mark’s work, alongside students, helped name the various types – grown for their suitability for basket making and other crafts, their colourful bark or ornamental form. Once identified, cuttings were taken and propagated for future replanting at the site and a ‘mirror’ collection was established at the Brackenhurst campus as a back-up.
Work to clear fallen trees and to harvest a crop of mature cricket bat willows along the riverside were developed. The cricket bat Willows were well beyond the usual age for harvesting but work was further delayed when the site, and wider countryside, became out of bounds due to the Foot & Mouth outbreak in 2001. Subsequent flooding and wet winters made access to cut and extract the timber without causing excessive damage impossible.
The Foot & Mouth outbreak, which severely restricted access to the countryside to help reduce the spread of the disease to livestock, provided me with one of my enduring memories of the site. During a site visit to check on the willows I had an encounter with a pair of tawny owls which, like many creatures at the time, had become accustomed to the lack of visitors, and seemed perfectly happy flying over the site in broad daylight. I had a similar close encounter with a deer at the Trust’s Gamston Wood during the outbreak – but that’s a story for another time.
When the flood waters receded and the ground conditions eventually dried out, a specialist contractor was chosen - but the lengthy delays and a change of personnel at the Trust led to an embarrassing faux pas whereby world-renowned cricket bat manufacturer, Gunn & Moore, felt they’d missed out on access to the local supply of English willow needed for their top quality bats. Thankfully, the contractors, J S Wright & Sons of Essex, helped us reach a perfect compromise by providing a supply of the timber, in the form of
carefully shaped and seasoned ‘clefts’ to the Nottingham based maker.
For a site which already had a fascinating history as a working willow holt, supplying willow for Newark’s historic basket making industry and as home to a collection of willows from across the world, the appointment of J S Wright & Sons added another unexpected layer. It transpired that the company had originally planted the crop for the Howitts decades before – only to lose track of them until the Trust got in touch!
Due to the age of the trees and the lack of management as a crop, there were concerns that the timber might be low grade; but to everyone’s delight, the trees provided a significant amount of high-quality timber for bat production. As well as crafting bats for professional cricketers, Gunn & Moore kindly produced a couple of bats for the Trust to mark the harvest. This provided me with yet more memories - having watched the clefts provided by J S Wright & Sons progress through Gunn & Moore’s state of the art factory in the company of England Test bowler Ryan Sidebottom.
After the harvest, J S Wright & Sons replanted the site with young cricket bat willows and have subsequently helped us establish a crop at our Idle Valley Nature Reserve. Unlike the crop we inherited, the trees planted at Farndon were carefully tended by our Nature Recovery Team and we are delighted that a site with links to the county’s willow growing history is once again being regularly harvested not only to help support the craft of cricket bat making, but also helping offset the costs of caring for such a fascinating site.
Working willow holts were once common throughout the Trent Valley but disappeared due to the lack of demand for traditional willow products, the development of sand and gravel workings, urban development and pressure from intensive agriculture.
Many of the Trust’s sites across the county have a productive past. Wilford Claypit, south of Nottingham, once supplied clay for the manufacture of bricks whilst Ashton’s Meadow near Retford and Besthorpe Meadows near Newark were created to provide winter feed for livestock. Ancient woodlands such as Treswell Wood, also near Retford, once provided everything from firewood to timber for construction and ship building.
As well as caring for wildlife which relies on our reserves and ensuring that they are accessible for people to enjoy and connect with nature, wherever possible we work to maintain links with our sites’ heritage – whether by sustainably harvesting timber or taking a hay crop to feed our livestock through the winter.
Further details about Farndon Willow Holt, the recent harvesting work, our other reserves across the county and our Action for Wildlife Appeal can be found at www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org
Imagery:
Harvesting the previous crop 20 years ago, courtesy of John Black.
One of the recently felled Cricket Bat Willows with a bat from the previous harvest, courtesy of Meg McKay.
Willows ready for planting at Fardnon Willow Holt back in 2005, courtesy of Claire Hargreaves.
