It's all in the wood

These are "spars", which in our case are made of hazel. So you split the lengths of hazel and point each end using a bill hook. Then you fold in half and twist at the same time, to create  a sort of wooden staple.  These are then used to fix the straw to what is the roof. Apparently they have tried to reproduce these in plastic but just cannot get the same "springiness" in the man made staples and so the tradition carries on. If the spar is not bent then it is called a "ligger" and this is used on the outside of the ridge for decorative purpose. I'm heading off to see if I can get a picture...