Coppice fence4/27/2023 ![]() ![]() The edge of the wood proper is demarcated by a bank and ditch. The fence around the wood helps us to limit deer numbers to a sustainable level. Others are left to become old, gnarled or hollow veteran trees, which provide valuable habitat for specialised insects.ĭeer are an important part of our wildlife, but can do irreparable damage to woodland flora and degrade the habitat for other wildlife if present in too high a number. Selected standards are periodically removed to prevent them shading out the coppice. In each coppice plot there are some larger trees, mainly oaks, known as standards. We coppice a narrow strip along the ride more frequently to keep it open and sunny. The boundaries of the plots are marked with oak posts.Īs you walk along the main ride, you can see the continuous change in vegetation from the open ground of the most recently cut plot to the dense thicket of the plot cut 14 years ago. We cut them in sequence, one every winter. There are now 14 one-acre coppice plots – seven either side of the main ride – dominated by ash and hazel. Coppicing ceased in the 1920s, but in 1963 Hayley became one of the first sites in the country to reintroduce the practice for the benefit of wildlife. Hayley Wood is an ancient woodland that has been coppiced since at least the 1250s. As you wander down the ride, look out for woodcock, blackcap and chiffchaff in and around the coppice plots. Birds are provided with an array of nesting and foraging habitats. In the newly coppiced areas there is a flush of spring flowers, such as oxlip and wood anemone, which offer nectar for butterflies and other insects. Each stage of regrowth supports different plants and animals, which can move around the plots as conditions change. In the spring following cutting, tree stumps send up vigorous young shoots and slowly over a number of years the canopy will close again. Small scale commercial coppicing still continues, while coppicing for conservation purposes is becoming more widespread.Ĭoppicing dramatically increases the amount of light and warmth that reaches the woodland floor, which encourages plant and insect life. In the 20th century, war and the use of new materials led to further decline and to many woods becoming neglected.įrom the 1950s to the 1970s many woods were destroyed and replaced by fields or conifer plantations. It was widespread until the 19th century when coal increasingly replaced firewood as fuel, leading to a fall in demand for coppice products. ![]() If left alone it too would become woodland and the rare grassland plants which thrive on the dry gravel would be lost together with the many butterflies which feed on them.įor thousands of years, coppicing has provided people with firewood and building materials. Any piece of land that is no longer used will eventually become woodland of some sort, and conservationists spend much of their time digging up trees to prevent heaths and grassland from turning into woodland. Oaks and hawthorns appeared from seed dropped by birds and a wood developed. The first part of the wood that you enter was a field a century ago when the railway cut it off from the surrounding farmland. The first section is known as the Triangle and it is full of tall slender trees reaching for the light, including some of the tallest hawthorns I think I’ve ever seen. The wood is surrounded by a high deer fence to protect the renewed growth of coppiced trees and the rare flowers that grow here. We arrived at the northern edge of the wood, bordered by a path along the old Cambridge to Bedford railway line. ![]() The hedge is then left to grow for 5 to 10 years before it needs laying again. Strong trunks of hawthorn and other shrubs in the hedge are partly cut through, allowing them to be bent almost horizontally and weaker stems are woven vertically through these to make a living fence. It is not kept trim with a modern hedge-cutter, but laid in the traditional manner. Some, like guelder rose and wayfaring tree, often grow in old hedges. This ancient hedge is a mixture of many different trees and shrubs. The hedge alongside Hayley Lane is one of the few ancient hedges in Cambridgeshire in the middle ages it divided the meadow of Little Gransden from the arable land of Longstowe. The wood is approached by a path running alongside Hayley Lane between a medieval mixed hedge on the right and a newly laid hawthorn hedge on the left. How could we resist? Hayley Wood beckoned – 120 acres enclosed by ancient woodbanks. The tweet came with photos attached, suggesting Steve had done some research before replying. That was one of Oliver Rackham’s stomping grounds where he did a lot of his work on medieval woodlands. I received an intriguing reply from Steve Pocock – Oh, check out Hayley Wood to west of Cambridge. I’d sent out a request via Twitter saying we were planning a weekend in Cambridge and could anyone recommend a woodland walk nearby.
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