Forest Fires and BBQs

Now that spring has sprung and the sun is shining over the Dunster estate it is very tempting to bring a BBQ out into the woods or to make your own fire from bits of deadwood lying in the forest and cook up a few sausages.

As understandable as this is, we ask that you leave the BBQs at home, and to not start fires. It will not have escaped your attention that the hot, dry april has led to extremely dry conditions all over the country, and Dunster is no exception. The huge heath and forest fires raging across the county as I write this demonstrate how little it takes to start a major fire- many of these will have been started by simple BBQs or camp fires.

Forest and heath fires can do great damage to habitats and wildlife, and the costs can spiral into millions of pounds- just from one spark!

By all means bring a picnic, enjoy our walks and the shelter of the woods, and save the BBQ for when you get home!

Forest operations diversions- Hats Wood

The felling operations in Hats Wood have now finished, so the diversions have been removed for now. Please be aware that there will be forestry works ongoing throughout the summer, and details of when and where will be posted shortly. There are no planned closures of trails or footpaths, though there may be some local disruption on some routes due to felling. Thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Hats Wood Circuit diversion

Due to Forest operations we will need to divert the beginnings of the Hats Wood, Longcombe and Black Hill circuits. Diversions will remain in place until further notice. Apologies for any disruption.

Tall Trees Top Ten!

Following the recent loss of the tall tree at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales, Dunster's tall tree- measured in 2009 as the tallest tree in England- may be even higher in the top ten tallest trees in the UK.

The replacement tall tree that was found at Lake Vyrnwy, and was shown on BBC's Countryfile programme, was measured as being only fractionally higher than the Dunster douglas-fir, which was measred at 60.05m in 2009.

We will be checking with the Tree Register where the Dunster douglas sits in this lofty competition, so watch this space!

To celebrate our tall trees we have installed an all abilities trail in and amongst them and called it the Tall Trees Trail- for more information see our website http://www.dunsterestate.co.uk/dunster_wood.html

spring has sprung- for now!

Spring is here at last- leaves are starting to appear on the hedgerow trees, birds are starting to sing and lambs are playing in the fields... Sights and sounds like this make it even better to walk on our new waymarked walking trails which have been completed over the winter.

Trails leaflets are to be available from a range of outlets locally- including B&Bs, visitor centres and camp sites- and on our website of course!

Scrub bashing for biodiversity

Crown Estate staff and volunteers have been busy controlling scrub on our heathland at Hopcott recently. We had a successful day on friday the 4th march where 60 people, including pupils from Minehead Middle School and members of the local community joined us on a joint Exmoor NPA, Butterfly Conservation, National Trust and The Crown Estate scrub bash event.

The good work was continued on sunday the 13th march, when we were up there again, this time with Avon Outdoor Group, for an Exmoor National Park help a ranger day.

Both days were enjoyed by all those that joined us- possibly due to the presence of jacket potatoes and marshmallows!.... For details of volunteering see our website, under 'what to do'.

what a start to 2011!

Sorry it's been a while since our last post- it's busy start to the year! so far we have planted 500 native oak trees in Dunster Forest with 70 members of the local community, established a committee of local people to manage the community orchard and arrange events, built owl boxes with volunteers, the forestry commission and hawk and owl trust, installed a brand new network of waymarked walking trails in the forest, and hosted the first of a number of bushcraft courses that will run over the spring and summer.

There is plenty more in the pipeline as we get ready for what we hope to be a busy visitor season, so watch this space!