Brash burning at Styal on Sunday 25th June 2017: 'As Nice as Mice'

Seven of us were out on a slightly cloudy and occasionally drizzly morning to do the brash burning that the group had spurned last week in favour of balsam bashing. As we found out, a bit of moisture from above was actually quite welcome today!

Due to the presence of the disease Phytophthora ramorum, almost 100 mature larch trees have been recently felled in the woods, and the job of burning the brash is a big one! We set up two fires which didn't take long to catch amid the dry wood we gathered from the floor.

Karin lobs a big 'un onto the flames

At morning break we spied the first two of three mice that we'd encounter during the day: the first briefly, but the second enjoyed a small amount of cake that was dropped on its 'front doorstep' in front of a sheltered hole under a tree stump.

The fires reached a scorching temperature, and we were glad of the odd rain shower that both cooled us down and helped to contain the heat of the fires. It certainly wouldn't have been much fun doing this in the searing sunshine of last weekend.

The third mouse comes out for a feed

After lunch another mouse came out to watch our work (or maybe it was to feast on some of the undergrowth) and the fires got even hotter. We had to keep a constant watch for embers popping out onto the surrounding leaf litter and trying to set fire to it.

Two hot fires, and less brash than at the start of the day

At 2pm we stopped feeding the fires to give them over an hour to burn down before Craig the ranger returned. We'd cleared a large area, although there's still quite a bit left.