This week at Winnall the volunteers built a fire to burn some Sycamoor branches that had been cut earlier in the year. The branches had been trimmed to allow more light to filter through the canopy of leaves and reach the river below. The extra light will enable more plants to grow in the river bed and provide homes and food for invertebrates which in turn fish will feed on.
The fire was also built to roast Sweet Chestnuts on to get us in the festive mood. Sweet Chestnut trees are not native to the UK and are thought to come from Greece being first introduced by the Romans. While the trees grow well in the UK they do not always produce particularly large nuts due to our cooler climate. When growing on the tree the nuts come wrapped in a spiny cocoon somewhat resembling a small green hedgehog, after they fall to the ground it is possibly to carefully unwrap this protective layer revealing 2 or 3 nuts contained within. They are lower in fat and higher in starch content than most nuts and when ground produce a good flour, they are also high in vitamins C and B. Roasting them reduces their bitterness, but more importantly on a cold winters day provides a warming meal.
Volunteers enjoying the fire
The trees can live for at least a 1,000 years, as they age their smooth bark becomes deeply cracked often forming a spiral pattern on large trees. In woodlands, particularly in Kent Sweet Chestnuts are regularly coppiced to provide wood for fencing, which is one of the most common uses for Sweet Chestnut wood today.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Back to Nature at Winnall Moors 