News

🎉Exciting News 🎉

We welcome in the New Year with some exciting news!!

Upcoming Events…

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❄️ WINTER NEWSLETTER 2024 ❄️

Winter has arrived and so has the cold weather! So we are wrapping up warm and enjoying watching the last of the falling leaves in Molly’s Wood.

Upcoming events…

The Birch Tree

In the rest of this newsletter we take some time to honour the Birch Tree.

A Central European Folktale about the Birch Tree

It was a beautiful autumnal day when the girl danced through the woods with her pet sheep by her side. She was distracted by the colour of the leaves, the whispering of the earth and the whirl of her feet, so that she forgot her sheep, when she looked around and it had gone.

She ran everywhere searching, but it was nowhere to be found. Exhausted the girl collapsed to the ground with her back against a birch tree. She felt the tree lean over, looked up and saw that two knot holes in the trunk had become eyes and a scar in the bark, a mouth. The tree spoke to her, asking the girl to dance, so the tree might dance with her. The girl, frightened, began to dance around the tree. Branches of the tree grasped her hands and lifting its roots out of the earth, the tree danced her around the forest, swinging her between the trunks.

As the sun rose, the exhausted girl found herself sitting again at the bottom of the birch andthe tree whispering to her, ‘thank you, I have not danced in 50 years, look what is there and scoop some leaves to take with you’. The girl saw her sheep waiting patiently and she scooped some leaves in her shawl.

On the way home, worrying what her mother would say, the girl heard a tinkling in her shawl and felt it grow heavier. When she looked inside, it was full of gold coins. She shouted a thank you to the forest and knew her mother would be happy.

The Birch Tree in Folklore and Medicine

The birch is one of the most significant trees in British folklore. It represents beginnings and was a symbol of Samhain, the Celtic new year, nowadays known as

Halloween. It was also a symbol of fertility and was often the source of the maypole, around which people danced to bring in the new life of spring. Birch is ruled by both the planet and the goddess Venus. A barren cow herded with a birch stick would give birth to a healthy calf.

It has magic too. It is used for the poles of a broomsticks, which witches use for their nocturnal flying. You will often see things that look like nests in birch trees, which are popularly known as witches broom.

Rising birch sap in the spring can be collected to be made into a syrup, which has strong medicinal properties.

Ecology and Molly’s Wood

The birch tree is common in Molly’s Wood, both planted and self-seeded. Along with the hawthorn and the wild rose, it is one of the most important pioneer species, occupying the open land and establishing the first phase of woodland.

If you knock the cone-like seed heads that hang from the twigs in autumn, you will release thousands of tiny, winged, golden seeds that will drift a long way in the wind to find a new home in which to germinate. These seeds are a favourite food of redpolls, which you will hear chattering before you see them hanging upside down on the birch twigs like Christmas baubles.

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June 2024

Spring Newsletter 2024

Family Fun Event

A big thank you to all those who helped to organise our event on 27th, and to those who came and supported us. It was a very enjoyable day and the rain even stayed away! It was lovely to connect with familiar faces and meet new local residents, the day was made all the more fun with the scouts joining us with some stalls of their own.

For those of you who couldn’t manage to make it, a flavour of the day….

◊ We had a great nature trail with prizes for those who completed it.

◊ Rides on straw bales in a trailer pulled by our vintage tractor.

◊ A bee display with wax and honey from the hives 

◊ Storytelling and arts and crafts

◊ Raffles, book and pottery stalls and of course tea and cake!

A Visit of Abundance

If you have visited Molly’s Wood in the last few years, you will have noticed that the area of land that used to be ‘the field’ has changed. We have divided it into two sections. The part that is nearest the Hulls Mill Lane is being rewilded, which basically means that we are allowing nature to do its thing. The only intervention being to create and maintain footpaths that weave through the area. The part nearest to the orchard is being cut occasionally to maintain it as a meadow. We are watching what happens and will alter the management appropriately. The rewilded area has exploded with wildlife: hawthorn, wild rose and oak saplings (along with much else) has self-seeded everywhere and animals have arrived with them.

At the end of May, I camped out in the orchard and in the morning was greeted by a wonderful dawn chorus. I saw or heard, whitethroat, chiffchaff, blackcap, garden warbler, reed bunting, marsh tit, skylark, cuckoo and kite along with the more common garden birds, up above, swifts, swallows and house martins circled over the poplars. Unfortunately, no sign of the yellowhammer (one of my dad’s favourite birds) that was singing last spring.  

Six of these birds are ‘red-listed’ in this country, so we are doing well on that measure alone.

The Elm Tree

The mighty elm used to grow in the hedgerows around Molly’s Wood. Then in the late 60’s and early 70’s all were lost to Dutch Elm Disease. I remember one huge one on the South side of the site, under which the delicious parasol mushrooms used to appear every autumn.

Today there are self-seeded elms scattered throughout the wood. They can live 15 to 20 years before they are discovered by the beetle that bores into them and spreads the fungus that ultimately kills them. Elms can be easily identified by their rough hairy leaves, which are asymmetrical at the base, one side extending further down the stalk than the other.

Elm trees are resistant to water and used in making coffins and boats.

In mythology, the elm is associated with death. Orpheus of the Greek myth played his melancholy lyre in a grove of elm trees after losing his love Eurydice to the underworld having been being bitten by a snake and an unsuccessful attempt by Orpheus to bring her back.

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May 2023

Postcode Place Trust Funding

We are thrilled to announce that Molly’s Wood has received £2,500 toward a new composting toilet from Postcode Places Trust!

Composting toilets require no water, electricity or drainage and are environmentally friendly, using no chemicals and producing no pollution. We look forward to installing our new toilet, hand made in the UK by Free Range Designs, in the autumn. We are hoping it will increase the accessibility of all day events being held at Molly’s Wood. If you would like to run a community event at Molly’s Wood, please get in touch with Jane at info.mollyswood@gmail.com.

We would like to say a massive thank you to our committee members Josh, Sue and Tara who worked hard to put in the application for this grant and to Postcode Places Trust for believing in what we do. Postcode Places Trust is a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Find out more about them here http://www.postcodeplacestrust.org.uk and about the People Postcode Lottery here http://www.postcodelottery.co.uk.

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March 2023

Spring

Spring is here and Molly’s Wood is bursting with life.  I hope you have had an opportunity to wander around the woods and enjoy it in all its glory!

UP AND COMING EVENT  23rd April 2023   10am to 4pm

We are organising a work/social event on Sunday 23rd April at Molly’s Wood.  Everyone is most welcome.  It will be an opportunity to meet other members, neighbours and the Molly’s Wood committee and join us for a cup of tea and homemade cake.  We would also be interested to hear of any ideas for improving Molly’s Wood, events you might like to be involved in or workshops you would find of interest that could be run at the woods.

We are also planning to use the day to do some clearing and general maintenance including rebuilding the lean-to behind the shed by the pond, which is collapsing.  If you are up for some physical work please bring any tools you have with you, especially spades and loppers.

We so hope you will join us and do being any friends or neighbours with you who you think may be interested in being involved with Molly’s Wood or who just fancy a day out.  The more the merrier.

Even if you can only pop over for a short time it would be great to see you and for some put faces to names

Hazel

The hazel is an important tree in the history of these isles. Some call the Bronze Age, some 3000-5000 years ago, the Nut Age because the shells of so many hazel nuts were found in the middens of the time that it was clearly an important food for the people. Perhaps that is why the hazel nut was believed to be a source of wisdom. 

There is a famous Irish tale about a salmon that had eaten a hazel nut that had fallen into the River Boyne and was blessed with wisdom. She was known as the salmon of knowledge and the poet Finegas spent years trying to catch the fish. When he eventually caught it, he gave it to the young Fionn Mac Cumhail to cook, with instructions not to eat a morsel. Fionn burst an unsightly blister on the fish’s skin with his finger and when he put the finger in his mouth, to cool it, he ingested all the wisdom. He became the great mythic leader of the Irish, whilst the tireless poet went home as dull as he was before. The small shade-tolerant hazel was grown by Britons, for years under tall oaks, both providing invaluable material for our forebears. The hazel was coppiced for use as thatching spars, fencing, hurdles, charcoal and a multitude of other jobs. So, as well as being wise it was useful. These coppices were also the home of the nightingale, which provided the nocturnal symphony of the woods. A bird that has dramatically decreased in numbers in recent years. Perhaps one day the nightingale will sing amongst the hazel trees planted throughout Molly’s Wood.

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January 2023

A warm welcome to 2023 at Molly’s Wood

The Committee

And a warm welcome too, to David Stovell and Jonathan Watkins, as new members of Molly’s Wood Committee. We look forward to fruitful collaborations.

Unfortunately, we also have to say farewell to Val Gibbons, who has been a loyal member of the committee for many years and contributed in numerous ways. Including writing this seasonal newsletter and the creation of an annual Christmas calendar. She has left for pastures new, we wish her well.

Water and Car Parking

After many months of toing and froing we at last have a mains water supply in Molly’s Wood, for the use of visiting groups. If you want access, please contact Jane at info.mollyswood@gmail.com

We also have new matting in the car park to avoid churning the ground at the entrance.

Visits

Rev Liz Paxton organised a Halloween event on the site on the 31^st of October, which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to bad weather. Please inform Jane if you know of anyone interested in bringing a group on site.

Molly’s Wood Trees: The Hawthorn

As a part of these newsletters we are writing a piece on the various trees found on the site. The first is the hawthorn. 

Hawthorn (cretaceous monogyna)

There is an area of Molly’s Wood, which we have decided to leave to its own devices, only cutting a few paths to make it accessible. It is the triangle of land that runs along the long path adjacent to Hull’s Mill Lane. The hawthorn is the tree which is most conspicuously colonising this area. It is a true pioneer, quickly taking over grassland that is left ungrazed or uncut. For some it is called ‘scrub’ and seen as worthless, for me it is the opposite of that. It is a special tree favoured by wildlife. Its dense thorny branches providing a haven for nesting birds (particularly the red-listed linnet and whitethroat), whilst its whitey/pink blossoms cast a sweet aroma over the landscape in May. In the autumn and winter its red berries are a crucial food supply for the wintering thrushes arriving from the far North. It has for long been the staple tree of hedgerows, creating a thorny barrier for stock and is known as quickthorn for obvious reasons.                    

But there is something else to the hawthorn, it is the ‘fairy tree’ where there are numerous tales of encounters with the ‘wee folk’. Thomas the Rhymer met the fairy queen there. I have an Irish storyteller friend who managed to get a new bypass re-routed so as not to destroy an old hawthorn that was particularly important for the fairy folk on the West coast. He said the workers would be found dead in their beds and there would be many accidents if they cut down that tree. And so, it remains.

Contributions

We are always looking for contributions to this newsletter. If anyone has something to say about Molly’s wood whether it be something you observed or something that happened to you, no matter how small, we are interested in including it in future editions of this newsletter. Please let Jane know on info.mollyswood@gmail.com

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