The Bede Howell Award for Excellence in Silviculture 2024
Congratulations to Gold winner Sotterley Estate and to Silver winner Fring Hall Estate, Norfolk, owned by Edward Brun.
This award recognises and encourages exemplary silviculture in commercial woodland or compartments of established crops where wood production (quality timber or other commercial products) is the primary aim.
Gold winner: Sotterley Estate
“Here we saw oak silviculture at its best. Miles Barne's focus is on fast-grown quality oak sawlogs grown on a shortened rotation and there is no shortage of takers for his magnificent mature oak. We were left with very little room to find any fault in the silviculture at Sotterley and the future crops look assured of achieving the highest prices.”
The Bede Howell Award for Excellence in Silviculture, sponsored by Tilhill, had the highest number of contenders with tough competition between the top entrants. Recognising forests where timber production is the primary aim, the sought-after Gold award was presented to the 160 Ha Sotterley woodlands for its magnificent plantations of mature oaks.
Judges praised Sotterley Estate’s foresters, Miles Barne and Julian Bachelor for their “laser-focus” on the production of high quality oak timber and meticulous attention to detail.
Miles has a ready firewood market for his early thinnings but his focus is on fast-grown quality oak sawlogs, grown on a shortened rotation. Miles is now adopting the principles of free growth of oak pioneered by Lemaire and trialled at Crumblands. The estate carries out regular thinning, selecting “winners” and high pruning to produce lengths of clear timber. The woodlands also contain outstanding examples of mature and mid-rotation oak with varied understoreys including western red cedar and hornbeam.
Silver winner: Fring Hall Estate
"The quality of crops of all ages was consistently high and meticulous management coupled with obviously astute marketing marked these woods out as exemplary silviculture."
Silver place for the Bede Howell Award went to Fring Estate, Norfolk and owner Edward Brun for the impressive output of various forest products and innovative experimentations with species selection and placement at Fulmodeston Severals, Holmes and Hindolveston Woods.
Judges were impressed by the wide range of silviculture systems in use across the estate’s woodlands, including a recent move to continuous cover forestry in conifer areas. Elsewhere, young oak plantations are thriving and an innovative checkerboard experiment mixing blocks of oak, birch and conifers is showing promise.
“We are deeply honoured to receive a silver medal for the Bede Howell Award for Excellence in Silviculture. Our prime aim is simple but involves a lot of commitment and hard work. It is to produce high quality timber derived from the best quality seed sources with proven management, production and marketing of timber using well-founded traditional silvicultural practices of pest control, planting, weeding and thinning.”
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