WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY

WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY

CALCOT CENTRE, 9th JULY 2012

Saving butterflies, moths and our environment

Butterfly Conservation

ORGANISERS & PRESENTERS

• Hampshire & Isle of White WLT

• Buckinghamshire, Berkshire & Oxfordshire LWT (BBOWT)

• Forestry Commission

• Butterfly Conservation Trust

• Game & Wildlife Conservancy Trust

• Deer Initiative

STRUCTURE OF DAY• Presentations

– 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)

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 ownerswithin 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

WOODLAND HABITAT RESOURCES 1

• Leaving fallen timber is GOOD

• Leaving felled timber is OK

• Leaving “standing dead” trees (“monoliths”) is OK

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

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

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

Short grass (mown twice or more a year)

Long grass & small shrubs

(mown/cleared on a 1-3 year

cycle)

Medium height shrubs &

coppice (felled every 5-20

years)

Canopy Trees – mixed species/age

Width of transition should be as wide as the height of the canopy

PROFILE OF A WOODLAND EDGE

Fence line or centre of path/track

ELEMENTS OF A WOODLAND RIDE OR PATH

Mature Canopy

Medium Shrubs/Coppice

Long Grass & Small ShrubsShort Grass

“Scallops”

Pinch Point

N

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

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

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

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

LINKING THE LANDSCAPE• Linear Features

– Well maintained hedges

• Landscape scale – Using scrub to link areas of woodland – Maintaining grassland habitat

HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 1

Mature Canopy Woodland


Meadow



Meadow with planted Scrub

Before After



Meadow




Before After

Scrub allows some woodland

species to “jump” the gap




Meadow




Before After

Sufficient Meadow to

allow grassland species to

move


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)

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

WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY

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