Coppicing

Kilchoan Learning Centre (part of West Highland College UHI) ran a coppicing course last weekend. It lasted two days, included both theory and practical, and brought another traditional skill back into the community.

While coppicing itself is the art of cutting back trees - such as oak, hazel, ash and willow - so that shoots regrow quickly from the side, the course also involved creating some of the products that are possible with coppiced wood.

So amongst the products they learned to work was wattle, which can be used to form fences and the frames for buildings, and they made brooms.

Coppicing a tree encourages rapid growth. As a result, the tree produces more wood per year than if it were left to grow naturally. Furthermore, the tree often continues growing far longer, so coppiced trees can be hundreds of years old. Coppicing is therefore also a way of maximising fuel output from forest resources.

The course was run by Pete Holmes (second from right), and the students included, from left to right, Pat Glenday, Trevor Potts (on whose croft the practical work took place), Jim Caldwell, Jonathan Ball, and Maureen Minchin.

Run by Pat Glenday, Kilchoan Learning Centre is, without doubt, the most dynamic education centre in Scotland. A list of its hugely varied courses is here, but other courses are available through distance learning through the University of the Highlands and Islands - so, for example, four people are currently following degree courses. Visitors are always very welcome: time your holiday in beautiful West Ardnamurchan to coincide with your course.

Many thanks to Trevor Potts at the Ardnamurchan campsite (website here) for the photographs.

More about coppicing here.