WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY CALCOT CENTRE, 9th JULY 2012 Butterfly Conservation Saving butterflies, moths and our environment

ORGANISERS & PRESENTERS Hampshire & Isle of White WLT Buckinghamshire, Berkshire & Oxfordshire LWT (BBOWT) Forestry Commission Butterfly Conservation Trust Game & Wildlife Conservancy Trust Deer Initiative Hampshire & IOW WLT facilitated the day BBOWT provided a speaker and hosted the afternoon walk round Moor Copse, one of their sites (SSSI) All presented in the morning with the exception of Jamie Cordery from the Deer Initiative who did his bit as we walked round in the afternoon

STRUCTURE OF DAY Presentations Lunch Visit to Moor Copse Principles of woodland Management and the importance of management to biodiversity – Karen Davies (BBOWT) Management of woodland and woodland grants available to support this work – Jonathan Rau (Forestry Commission) Key species and survey techniques: A case study on butterflies and moths – Dan Hoare (Butterfly Conservation Trust) Game management in woodlands – Peter Thompson (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Lunch Visit to Moor Copse Led by Andy Coulson-Phillips (Reserves Manager BBOWT) & Ian Stevenson (Reserves Officer BBOWT) with Jamie Cordery (South East Deer Initiative) Karen Davies was knowledgeable, had a good presentation and was a competent speaker Jonathan Rau had good material but was a poor speaker and overran Dan Hoare was brilliant and brought the house down – It was a pity that Dan had to loose part of his presentation to get the timetable back on track Peter Thompson was also very good Jamie Cordery was very good and handled a ticklelish subject well with humour

PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION Distil key elements from the day - where applicable to Groups in an urban or urban-fringe setting Will concentrate on the biodiversity issues of woodland management Will only cover issues of forestry harvesting, grants & deer management where they effect us

TARGET AUDIENCE Land owners Land Agents Land Managers within the area of North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Land Agents Land Managers Conservation Groups

BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY Woodland provides a dark & cool environment Variation can be introduced by: Coppicing / Pollarding Opening up rides within the wood Opening up areas within the wood: Clearings “Sky-lighting” Profiling the boundary of the wood

BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY Woodland under the canopy provides a dark & cool environment A habitat in it’s own right A mix of species and ages is better than a monoculture Trees are better spaced out rather than planted close together Trees are often planted close together to force them to grow tall & straight – produces straight timber – requires gradual thinning to allow selected tress to mature Often not done due to resource issues

WOODLAND HABITAT RESOURCES 1 Leaving fallen timber is GOOD Leaving felled timber is OK Leaving “standing dead” trees (“monoliths”) is OK Fallen or felled timber left to rot naturally is a fantastic resource for invertebrates

WOODLAND HABITAT RESOURCES 2 Processing arrisings (“brash”) “Habitat Piles” can be OK Distributing throughout the wood may be Better Chipping can be expensive but useful Dead hedging OK but is not “stock-proof” Burning is to be Avoided Be careful about habitat piles – they can used by rabbits as a protective “fort” from which to forage/pillage the surrounding woodland Distributing arrisings in a low density way is only possible in areas not subject to public access – difficult for most groups. Both methods (piling & distribution) are labour intensive but chipping is expensive and can be disruptive (moving heavy equipment around) Dead hedging is not a solution to keeping out deer or rabbits – deer will push underneath fences rather than jumping! Burning is to be discouraged as it bakes the soil – If it must be done, the fewer the fire sites the better (= more labour to move arrisings)

BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY Coppicing / Pollarding Woods partitioned into sections (“Stoops”) Rotational felling Mainly Hazel Traditionally frequency of rotation determined by: Use of wood products Availability of labour Rotation now determined by: Dormice Without Dormice = 7-10 years With Dormice = 15 years or more In the south east, most (large) hazel woods/coppice will have dormice. Where Dormice are present, a longer rotation can be used and the work only done in winter – when the dormice are dormant

BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY Opening up the canopy allows in light and warmth All Woodland Edges can be structured in a similar way Edge Progression: Short grass Long grass + small shrubs Larger shrubs & coppice Mature canopy trees

PROFILE OF A WOODLAND EDGE Medium height shrubs & coppice (felled every 5-20 years) Canopy Trees – mixed species/age Fence line or centre of path/track Long grass & small shrubs (mown/cleared on a 1-3 year cycle) Short grass (mown twice or more a year) Width of transition should be as wide as the height of the canopy

ELEMENTS OF A WOODLAND RIDE OR PATH “Scallops” Long Grass & Small Shrubs Short Grass Medium Shrubs/Coppice Rides are best aligned east-west to get maximum sun. Scallops provide additional variation in aspect Pinch points allow species of the canopy/mature woodland to move around Mature Canopy Pinch Point

WOODLAND EDGES Woodland rides, paths and access tracks: At least as wide as the height of the canopy Wider on rides aligned north/south where possible Woodland/Field boundaries Edge can be formed on the woodland side of any (deer-proof) fence The wider the better = more sun = warmer

WOODLAND CLEARINGS - 1 Clearings can mix & match edge elements depending on size of clearing Where paths or tracks cross can be used as focus for a clearing. Created by: Felling “Sky-lighting” = ring barking one or more trees The wider the better = more sun = warmer

WOODLAND CLEARINGS - 2 “Sky-lighting” = ring barking one or more trees Progression to standing Dead Wood: Small branches will fall in first summer Larger branches will fall in second summer Tree will soon (5 years) start shedding bark Standing dead wood will son be used by woodpeckers – Loose bark can be used by bats for a summer roost

COPPICE STRUCTURE >5% in temporary open space >15% in stands 1-10 years old >10% non-intervention (Mature trees): 3 fallen/laying trees >20cm dia per hectare 4 dead standing trees per hectare Coppice always has some isolated or Maiden trees embedded within the hazel stoops

LINKING THE LANDSCAPE Linear Features Landscape scale Well maintained hedges Landscape scale Using scrub to link areas of woodland Maintaining grassland habitat Hedges were not discussed but the same principles of woodland edge could be applied to hedgerows

HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 1 Before After Mature Canopy Woodland Mature Canopy Woodland Meadow with planted Scrub Meadow Mature Canopy Woodland Mature Canopy Woodland

HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 2 Before After Mature Canopy Woodland Mature Canopy Woodland Scrub allows some woodland species to “jump” the gap Meadow with planted Scrub Meadow Mature Canopy Woodland Mature Canopy Woodland

HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 3 Before After Mature Canopy Woodland Mature Canopy Woodland Sufficient Meadow to allow grassland species to move Meadow with planted Scrub Meadow Mature Canopy Woodland Mature Canopy Woodland

ANCIENT WOODLAND -CHARCTERISTICS Continuously managed since the 1600’s Have their own Ancient Woodland Indicator (AWI) Species Primarily plants – 60 species “Common” species include: Wood Anemone Sweet Woodruff Wood Sorrel Archangel Mouchel (aka Townhall Clock) We have a number of fine ancient woodlands in the Basingstoke area

ANCIENT WOODLAND - VULNERABILITIES Easily damaged: Soil disturbance/compaction from wood processing or vehicles Very slow to recover AWI plant species are often very slow to colonise adjacent areas Some can be very fussy as to soil conditions, location, aspect or state of canopy Example - Wood Anemone Most of its seed is sterile Does not persist in seed bank for long Rhizomes are very slow to establish Needs dappled shade Need to plan work carefully

BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS - 1 How can we measure the effectiveness of our management regime? Monitor butterflies: Easy to identify React very quickly to changes in their habitat or breeding conditions Hoverflies can also be used Much more difficult to observe/catch/identify

BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS - 2 Example – Duke of Burgundy Fritillary Allegedly very slow to colonise new areas Southeast Woodlands Project – 2008 - 2010: Three sites Denge Woods nr Canterbury, Kent Rother Woods nr Rye, East Sussex Tytherley Woods on Hampshire/Wiltshire border Results (annual transect) from Denge Woods Before 2008 11 2008 32 2009 61 2010 173 2011 115