Coppicing Hazel for Sustainable Woodland Products

Why hazel coppicing still earns its place

Hazel is one of the most generous trees in the British countryside. Left to its own devices it becomes a thicket of slender stems, but cut it on a regular cycle and it responds with straight, strong poles that are useful for everything from pea sticks to firewood. Coppicing is simply the practice of cutting a tree close to ground level to encourage new shoots from the stool. Hazel has evolved for this treatment. Its buds sit low on the stem, ready to burst after cutting, and a well-managed stool can live for centuries.

For small woodland owners, coppicing offers a sustainable harvest without replanting. You take what the wood grows each year, then let it grow again. It also lets light reach the woodland floor, which is why coppiced woods are among the richest habitats we have for flowers, butterflies and dormice.

The cutting cycle: timing and rotation

Hazel is normally cut in winter, between November and early March, while the sap is down and the wood is dormant. Avoid cutting in spring or summer when birds are nesting and the tree is in full leaf. The length of the rotation depends on what you want. A five to seven year cycle gives flexible stems for pea sticks and small hurdles. Ten to fifteen years produces sturdy bean poles, hedge stakes and thatching spars. Leave stools for eighteen to twenty years and you get larger poles for fencing, tool handles or charcoal.

Most traditional hazel coppices are divided into coupes, or compartments, cut in sequence. If you have a hectare of hazel, dividing it into ten coupes means cutting one coupe each year on a ten-year rotation. That gives a steady supply of wood and a mosaic of different ages, which is exactly what wildlife needs.

Tools and technique for a clean cut

The aim is a clean, sloping cut that heals quickly and sheds water. Work with a sharp bowsaw, billhook or loppers, and keep the blade clean. Cut each stem about 5–10 cm above ground level, angling the cut slightly away from the stool so rain runs off. Do not leave long stubs, which die back and let rot into the stool. Cut from the outside of the stool inwards, and take care not to damage the bark on the remaining stems.

• Cut stems flush with the stool, not below ground.
• Use a sloping cut to prevent water pooling.
• Leave two or three of the strongest new shoots if the stool is weak.
• Keep some standards — oak, ash or wild cherry — for timber and shade.
• Wear gloves, eye protection and sturdy boots; hazel springs back.

Products from the pole and brash

Sort your cut stems by size as you work. Straight, flexible stems become pea sticks, bean poles, garden obelisks or hedge binders. Thicker poles can be split for hurdles, used as stakes, or cut for tool handles. Smaller side branches make kindling, and the poorest wood is perfect for charcoal or the wood stove. Nothing needs to be wasted.

The brash — the leafy tops and tangled branches — is valuable too. Pile it into dead hedges along ride edges, or leave habitat piles in quiet corners. Brash shelters beetles, frogs and small mammals, and it slowly returns nutrients to the soil. If you have a chipper, use the chips as mulch around newly cut stools, but leave some piles for wildlife.

Aftercare for healthy, productive stools

New growth appears within weeks of cutting. Protect it from deer and rabbits with tree guards, temporary fencing or a brushwood barrier. Keep brambles and nettles from smothering young shoots, especially in the first season. If regrowth is very dense, thin it lightly after a year, leaving the strongest six to eight stems per stool. Do not over-thin; hazel needs some density to draw each other up straight.

Check stools each winter. Remove any damaged or crossing stems, and cut back any dieback to clean wood. A stool that is grazed, shaded or waterlogged will decline, so thin surrounding trees if necessary. Above all, keep records: mark coupes, note cutting dates and watch how each stool responds. A well-kept hazel coppice is a long conversation between the woodsman and the wood.

Wildlife in the coppice cycle

Coppicing creates a shifting patchwork of light and shade. In the first two years after cutting, the ground flora surges — bluebells, wood anemone, dog violet and foxglove. Butterflies such as the pearl-bordered fritillary and the dingy skipper use these sunny gaps. Dormice favour the dense regrowth of a few years later, while mature standards provide nesting holes for birds and bats.

Leave some stools to grow on, and keep deadwood standing or lying where it is safe. The result is a wood that is both productive and alive, yielding poles, pea sticks and fuel while making room for the next generation of hazel. Cut, stack, and let the wood do what it has always done.