Tag Archives: coppicing

December 2023 Conservation Task

Coppiced trees from coppicing conservationtask and cattle Horseshoe Thicket, Walthamstow, London
Horseshoe Thicket coup (coppiced area) with belted galloway cattle.

On Sunday 3rd December we will be on Walthamstow Marshes in Horseshoe Thicket doing our annual coppicing task. The task will involve creating dead hedges to control access to the regrowth areas, felling trees to open up the ground and seed bank to sunlight to increase the biodiversity of the area, creating carbon sinks with deadwood ecosystems and increasing biodiversity with habitat piles.

Volunteer with us !

Everyone is welcome to volunteer with Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers on any of our first Sunday nature conservation task in North East London. Simply turn up at the Waterworks Nature Reserve by 10am on the Sunday morning in clothing and footwear suitable for the task and weather. If you use What Three Words ///guises.manage.entry is the location.

Please do not meet us on site, we carry all our equipment, so will only have enough for those that arrive at the Waterworks,

Winter Dead Head hedge 2022 from 2021 coppicing task.
Winter Dead Head hedge 2022 created during the 2021 coppicing task.

Task Reminder Email

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December 2022 Volunteer Coppicing Conservation Task

Sunday 11th December

### CHANGE OF DATE NOT 4TH ###

Walthamstow Marshes Coppicing Horseshoe Thicket

Our annual coppicing task creates biodiversity in the thicket by creating different light levels via the changing the canopy cover. We will also create a valuable ecosystem of lying deadwood with the felled trunks becoming a carbon store. Standing deadwood is not possible in such a public woodland.

A walk around the thicket will enable you to see the various coups (coppiced areas) from previous years’ tasks, last year’s coup being the most verdant as the seed bank has been exposed to light for the first time in over a decade.

LBCV have been coppicing Horseshoe Thicket for over 20 years. All people (18+) are welcome to join us no experience necessary. Just turn up at the Waterworks Centre, around 9:45am, to help us move the tools to the site. We do the monthly tasks in all weathers, so please dress for the weather.

Copicing Novemeber 2020 task

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December 2021 nature conservation volunteering task

On Sunday 5th December 2021 Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers will be coppicing in Horseshoe Thicket on Walthamstow Marsh.

This woodland management task will involve coppicing trees, which will use the 4 cut felling method, snedding and brashing. The brash wood will be used to create dead hedges to control access to the regrowth area. The larger wood pieces will be used to build habitat piles, which increases the biodiversity of this urban woodland by becoming lying deadwood ecosystems. 


Traditionally coppiced wood would be used in green woodworking by bodgers to make spoons, bowls, chairs etc. See below, if you would like to learn green woodworking in East London.

All are welcome to join us and no experience is required. If You are curious about what happens on a LBCV task, one of our regular volunteers did the following live video on October’s 2020 task

Please wear appropriate clothing and stout footwear for the task and weather. We will be working in an area with bramble and nettles, so closed shoes/boots and long trousers and sleeves would be best. Kneeling will also 

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Coppiced Trees regrowth

November 2018 Task

Sunday November 4th Walthamstow Marshes – A change to the published November nature conservation task of coppicing.

Instead we will be continuing with the removal of willow along the ditch on the North Marsh.
Coppicing will now be on Sunday 2 December, due to the mild weather and trees still in leaf, it is not currently an appropriate time to be coppicing.

All are welcome to join us, no experience needed, just turn up or ask questions here or email the info@ email address if you need more information.
The work on this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), pronounced “triple S I”, is being done as part of the Higher Level Stewardship agreement with Natural England.
The task is scrub management, which will involve removing invasive willow from along the ditch, which will aid the Water Vole population. Removing the scrub will maintain the marsh as a wetland meadow habitat. There will also be a litter pick but the focus of the task is removing the willow.
No experience is needed. LBCV will provide the training and tools along with the tea, coffee and biscuits. Bring your own packed lunch. Volunteers should wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the task and weather.
Volunteers are welcome to meet us on site, be at A V Roe Arch on Sandy Lane at 10:30, but please text 07757 766950 or email info@, before 9am on Sunday, so we can provide enough tools and gloves.

December 2017 Task

Sunday 3 December 2017 Walthamstow Marsh Coppicing horseshoe thicket

More details here and in the task reminder after the site visit,

Join Us

As always everybody is welcome to volunteer with LBCV. No  experience is required. Please wear sturdy footwear and appropriate clothing for the work and weather.

We can provide wellingtons in the morning and you must return them. So please arrive in plenty of time to select your pair. Please bring some lunch.

LBCV will provide tools, training, gloves, tea, coffee and biscuits.

Please arrive from 9:30am onwards at the Waterworks Centre Lammas Road, off Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7QT, for a 10am departure. The meeting place is the former golf centre across from the former Greyhound Public House on Lea Bridge Road. We will leave at 10am for a walk to the task site. Volunteers are welcome to meet us on site, before the tools talk, please text 07757 766950, before 9am on Sunday, so we can provide enough tools and gloves.

Please lock bicycles to the stands in front of the Waterworks Centre. There is ample free car parking there too. Dogs are not allowed on the Nature Reserve so please do not cross the bridge with dogs or ride bicycles in the nature reserve. Dogs are still welcome on some tasks, including this one, we just request that their owners wait with the LBCV catering team at the Waterworks Centre, while the tools are loaded. Please read this article if you think we are being draconian http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6978272.stm

As usual we will have post task refreshments in the Hare and Hounds on Lea Bridge Road.

Volunteering and doing a conservation task with LBCV in North East London, is great way to meet new people, learn new skills, use old skills, be more active, get closer to nature, make a difference and have some fun with like minded people in the Lea Valley Regional Park.
If you use the Facebook like us at either www.facebook.com/lbcv.org.uk or https://www.facebook.com/groups/119714882254/ if you want to be sent LBCV invites to our tasks via Facebook. LBCV is now on Twitter so if that is your social media channel https://twitter.com/LBCV_London.