Wood wigwams in woods?

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Nod

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Prompted by Yv's wondering in this thread (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/local-bluebells.538690/ ) I thought I'd ask here as she suggested.

Any idea what these tipis are? As I said in the above thread, I've seen a couple in a National Trust owned piece of woodland, not sure who owns the woods where the photo was taken though.
 
I see them all the time in the forests here too, so i'd be keen to know why as well, i aways assumed it was nature groups or scout outings etc
 
Guilty in teh past in some of the local woods. Either they are made as small wigwams for the kids to play in, or sometimes I've seen them done as animal/insect habitats if condensed
 
Kids having fun or scouts etc.

In swindler forest near me there is a section with about 10 or so and they are constantly rebuilt and always different.
 
I've just answered on the other thread - short version is that its for coppicing , the wigwams are constructed over the cut stools to stop the regrowth being browsed by deer etc - coppicing is generally done on hazel or sweet chestnut (although you will see it done on other species like ash and occasionally sycamore - although we don't do the latter as its large leaves tend to shade out the ground flora , so we don't encourage it in bluebell woods and such )

You do of course also get kids building shelters etc , but these are much larger and less numerous than the 'wigwams' Nod and Yv are talking about
 
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neil_g said:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1355780491372/

?
Click to expand...

Indeed - kids wigwams and other dens and shelters etc are certainly encouraged , but as I said they'll be larger and less numerous than a coppice wigwam - in general if you have an open area with 40 or 50 or so little wigwams maybe 3 or 4 ft in height and maybe 2 ft in diameter then you are looking at a recently coppiced site

see our team blog here http://nteastdevon.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/combe-wood-coppicing/
 
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big soft moose said:
Indeed - kids wigwams and other dens and shelters etc are certainly encouraged , but as I said they'll be larger and less numerous than a coppice wigwam - in general if you have an open area with 40 or 50 or so little wigwams maybe 3 or 4 ft in height and maybe 2 ft in diameter then you are looking at a recently coppiced site

see our team blog here http://nteastdevon.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/combe-wood-coppicing/
Click to expand...
sorry didnt refresh the page and see you last post (y)
 
Thanks again here Pete. I have seen both in my local woodlands, smaller ones and larger ones, often several near to each other and the woodlands I am thinking of do indeed have deer, so the protection would make sense but also there are close links with local groups. So at least next time I can look more closely at them and inside them and work out what is for what. However, I am reasonably sure this one, that appeared late last summer, was definitely related to some kind of kids project... :D

[sorry, crap phone pic btw]
20131001_131541 by Yvonne White - WhiteGoldImages, on Flickr
 
big soft moose said:
I've just answered on the other thread - short version is that its for coppicing , the wigwams are constructed over the cut stools to stop the regrowth being browsed by deer etc - coppicing is generally done on hazel or sweet chestnut (although you will see it done on other species like ash and occasionally sycamore - although we don't do the latter as its large leaves tend to shade out the ground flora , so we don't encourage it in bluebell woods and such )

You do of course also get kids building shelters etc , but these are much larger and less numerous than the 'wigwams' Nod and Yv are talking about
Click to expand...
I've interpretted your post to really mean "we like building little dens for the woodland elves" :LOL:
 
yep yv that's definitely a kids shelter - picture of coppice wigwamage

img_1289.jpg
 
TopBanana said:
I've interpretted your post to really mean "we like building little dens for the woodland elves" :LOL:
Click to expand...

A little girl did ask me, during one of these tasks. if we were "building houses for all the mice & rabbits" bless
 
Can't beat a bit of Wigwamaging!! :sneaky:
 
Byker, that's a different sport altogether :lol:
 
The ones we have seen were against trees and in a bluebell wood. They were also full, so I don't think they are dens. I didn't take any photos of them and there were precious few bluebells out either! Might have to go back tomorrow.
 
It's Ray Mears.
 
Nod said:
The ones we have seen were against trees and in a bluebell wood. They were also full, so I don't think they are dens. I didn't take any photos of them and there were precious few bluebells out either! Might have to go back tomorrow.
Click to expand...

if they are just stacked up against an actual tree chances are they are piles of coppice/woodland product stacked like that to season preparatory to either processing for firewood or charcoal
 
If the weather's nice tomorrow, we'll probably go there again to see if the bluebells are out in profusion. Will try to get a shot or 2 of the tipis. Don't remember ever seeing evidence of charcoal making up there but it would explain the things.
 
Shows how observant I was last week - a revisit to Dunsford woods proved me wrong! The one I saw today was a den rather than anything else but when I went towards the only decent sized patch of bluebells, I did find a burned circle which I'm fairly sure was the result of a charcoal smoulder. Only thing for it is another return visit... Life's a beach!
 
This kind of thing?

stokewoodmisty2081LR_zps51192519.jpg~original


This wood is managed by BBONT in Oxfordshire, and they don't welcome people actually walking off piste in this wood. I'm pretty sure it's stacked to season as Pete said than for children to play in (heaven forbid!).
 
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The one we spotted yesterday...

4028 by Nod on Talk Photography

and the (probably) charcoal burn scar.

4029 by Nod on Talk Photography
 
yep definitely a shelter - and yes thats a charcoal burn scar - you can tell because its too perfectly circular to be a fire site( in a bluebell woodland, kilns (and for that matter fires) should prefferably be burned off the ground on tin or a platform of logs , or if that isnt possible on a designated patch which is the same each year - creating a burn scar like that in the midst of a bluebell patch is seriously not on - if this were one of my woodlands, the staff or contractor concerned would be getting their botty smacked)
 
On the full sized file you can see a few chunks of charcoal left behind. Did strike me as a little odd for it to be in the middle of a smallish meadow area.

I could have sworn that we saw more than one tipi last week but only the one above this time. Don't think we went quite as far up the river yesterday.
 
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