moss wrote:
But there is always good news as well, maybe give it a few years and it will regenerate. Anyway it made me look back at the old wood near us which is also managed by the National Trust, and which I photographically record each year for its marvellous show of bluebells. The NT also cleared a glade in this wood, BUT only kept the heavy machinery to the one track that went through, many of the cut trees stumps are left a couple of feet high with coppicing regenerating round the base. The great logs are stacked and brushwood is left in great heaps (proper conservation techniques surely).
Hopefully so Moss. The visit to Wapley on the weekend demonstrated to me that preservation of a hillfort and maintaining a woodland wildlife haven need not be mutually exclusive. I do agree with Rebsie that the methods at Midsummer appear to be heavy-handed, but hopefully scars left by the tractors will heal.(Rebsie, Wapley is fairly close to you, I heartily recommend a visit)
moss wrote:
As for trees left on longbarrows, I am going to be a heretic here, in 4000 years there must have been a lot of scrub and trees that have grown over this period, so it is not really a new issue. Compare EKLB with the Beckhampton long barrow which was shaved of its cover and looked like a great plucked goose last time I saw it. EKLB is, if anything, protected by the trees.
As I said in reply to Johnnyj above, the possible damage to a longbarrow from careless clearance is a higher risk and again Rebsie is no doubt correct that the trees on barrows like Crippets near us have probably saved them from the plough. The case for clearing such a site of trees would have to be much stronger if it were to justify the potential damage. 
