Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

This ancient wood is mostly outgrown coppice of sweet chestnut, with tall-grown oak and ash. The ground layer is dominated by bramble, with bluebell, bracken, pignut, dog's mercury, wood anemone, common figwort, wood sage, climbing corydalis, and slender St John's-wort also present. The latter two species are rare in London. Breeding birds on the site include green and great spotted woodpeckers, treecreeper, nuthatch, blackcap and chiffchaff. Purple and white-letter hairstreak butterflies can be seen in the canopy. The grassland around the edges of the wood is slightly acidic, and supports common stork's-bill as well as scattered gorse and broom. Birds foot can also be found. The short grass on the eastern side of the wood supports two nationally notable invertebrates, the hairy-legged mining bee and the bee-wolf. There has been a volunteer led effort to eradicate Spanish hybrid bluebells from the site.

Facilities

Car parking