WOODLANDS OF WOOL
Wool Parish is outstanding in the numbers of, albeit small, ancient woodlands. Ancient woods are those that have been in existence over 400 years. If they qualify then it is likely they have existed very much longer than this. There are 14 in all in Wool. However, some are under 2 hectares and so are not included on the Ancient Woodland Inventory. The woods of Wool vary considerably from very acid woods containing Climbing Corydalis and Wood Sorrel, eg Highwood and Dorset Wood, to ones that are on more neutral soils derived from London Clay. This may occur in patches and supports plants such as Sanicle. However, in one wood alone may be included many different areas depending on changes in soil type, for example, lenses of clay. It is the nature of ancient woodlands to show diversity of soil type because soils have not been disturbed by deep ploughing. 8 Acre Coppice is a prime example where bracken – an acid lover – is found at the northern end whereas in other parts there are damper areas with Primrose and Wild Currant and yet other more alkaline areas with pig nuts, sanicle and bluebell in the drier areas. There are no truly alkaline soils supporting ancient woodland. Vicarage and Eweyards coppices lying just on the edge of the Parish boundary are on clay overlying chalk, and here Maple/Oak woodland exists with Harts Tongue ferns abundant everywhere. Our woods are in the main then Oak/Hazel woods with a Holly understorey. Ash is found in the more alkaline and wetter areas of Oak/Hazel woods, and here Hawthorn may be present in the shrub layer. Ash is regenerating better than the Oak. If our woods become wetter, as a result of climate change, we may see an increase of this species, possibly even becoming sub-dominant with Oak.
The ancient woods are found in two main areas. Those on the south east include Cole Wood, Highwood, Dorset Wood, Haremere Wood and Barn Coppice. Cole Wood and Highwood have public access and Barn Coppice lies on the edge of the trackway running south. All these woods lie on sandstone and gravel caps of the Bagshot Beds. Another sweep of woods runs in a chain along the northern edge above the River Frome flood plain - Blindman’s Wood, Little Perry Coppice, Great Perry Coppice and Long Coppice. The stepping stones of Higher wood in Bovington with Lays Coppice and Eight Acre Coppice, despite Bovington Lane separating it from Blindman’s Wood, make almost a complete circle of woodlands south of Bovington.
In Spring these ancient woodlands are full of flowers, some of which are usually only found in soils that have never been disturbed and are therefore a feature of ancient woodlands, so much so that they may be referred to as indicator plants. Bluebells are found in profusion in these woods or given their Dorset name “greygle”, no not Google. Bluebells are a speciality of English woods – rare in Europe generally. Even more reliable indicators such as Wood Anemones occur in most of these woods. Their large star-like flowers give them the name Windflower. White is a favourite colour for woodland flowers – easily seen in the shade. Other examples are the small, dainty white bells of Wood Sorrel with its Shamrock-like leaves, and the tiny white stars of Sweet Woodruff with leaves rather like Goose Grass, but if you crush them they give off a sweet hay smell and used to be used to stuff ladies’ pillows. In drier areas, Woodland Violets and the strange lime green flowers of Wood Spurge can be found, and in damper areas Primroses and Early Purple Orchids. Blindman’s Wood has these in profusion, as does Highwood to a lesser extent. Another flower in the wetter areas of this and Cole Wood is the Yellow Pimpernel. Yellow Archangel occurs in Cole Wood, but it should not be confused with a garden escape, similar with silver variegated leaves. It occurs in 8 Acre Coppice but as an alien it is likely to take over and should be eradicated. Indeed the ancient woods of Wool equal a Swiss flower meadow in Spring.
Another group of plants associated with ancient woodlands are less obvious. These include the flowerless plants. These include many lichens (plants which reproduce by spores and are a grey-green colour due to being in part algae and in part fungus!). The rare Tree Lungwort, looking like a small leaf of a Savoy cabbage, has been found in Long Perry Coppice. Many lichens need a hand lens to reveal a colourful rich variety of spore producing discs, for example the red wine gum-like one called Pachyphialec carneola. Other species characteristic of old woodland include Dinerella lutea whose spore-producing discs look like apricot tarts, Leptogium teretiusculum, Lecanographa lyncea, Opegrapha zerica, Opegrapha corticola*, Parmelia riddenda*, Thelopsis rubella, and Rhinodina roboris*. This has black discs with an irregular light margin, unlike the margin of a similar lichen Cresponea premnea. The quite rare Schismatomma niveum* is also found - a speciality of old Oaks at least 250 years old. In a recent field meeting of the LNR in 8 Acre Coppice, 37 different species were recorded in two hours! Five were veteran tree or old forest species, including those asterisked and Lecanactis subabietina. Usnea ceratina (an Old Man’s Beard lichen) was also found, but it is in the very humid sites of the valley woods of the River Frome, such as Blind Man’s that it hangs in festoons from the trunks. Interest is not confined to living trees with rotting logs and stumps providing a habitat for the uncommon Cladonia parasitica. The presence of these lichens is very important as it tells us that woodlands
have a long history and that there has been a continuity of veteran trees. Mosses, as other plants, reflect the neutral or acid, drier or wetter, nature of the soils. Polytricum formosum and Polytricum junipere with their hard, stiff leaves, are suited to drier, sandy soils. St Catherine’s moss, with its see-through thin leaves, occurs on wet clay banks. Mnium hornum is another moss with star-like arranged leaves, as with St Catherine’s moss. The latter so-called because the whorl of leaves looks a bit like the spokes of a wheel. Thuidium tamriscinum has tiny leaves covering branches, looking like a miniature fern. Soft green cushions of Leucobryum glaucum, sometimes referred to as pin cushion moss, can give a woodland floor the appearance of having an Axminster carpet. Hypnum cupressiforme and Isothecium myosuroides gives the bases of trees a covering like a dog’s coat!
Lichens are fed on by moth caterpillars, for example the Rosy Footman, recorded in local garden moth-trapping sessions, and is a fine hiding place for others during the day time, eg Meuville du Jour, which is well camouflaged against it. Long-tailed Tits use it for nesting material. So, although small and often overlooked, lichens are important in the woodland ecology. Most only thrive in damp conditions and pure air. We will know Wool has become a town when the lichens disappear! Highwood is spectacular for its show of ferns and sedges. The Giant Pendulous Sedge with its long hanging inflorescences is found here; also in other woods where there are wet areas. It is an ancient woodland indicator and was often dug up by Victorians for their gardens. However, the other Giant also collected – the Royal Fern – has only been found in woodland just outside the Parish. In Autumn our woods again become a place for exciting and colourful finds – fungal fruiting bodies. Eight Acre Coppice is particularly rich in these, including dramatic ones such as the olive green deadly poisonous Deathcap and the foul-smelling Stinkhorn. It is host to the uncommon creamy-coloured sweet-smelling Giant Clitocybe – up to 30 cms across! In Spring, regularly on 23 April, the St Georges Mushroom occurs in the verge between the wood and Cologne Road. More colourful and abundant in Autumn are Purple Deceivers and pink Lilac Mycenas. A board has been erected in 8 Acre Coppice showing some of these non-flowering plants.
The Holly Blue is one of the earliest butterflies to flit about these woods looking for Holly or Ivy on which to lay eggs. Big old Oak trees, when hollow, provide nesting sites for Tawny Owls, Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers and the rarer Lesser Spotted Woodpecker recorded in Bovington. Of course the adults and larvae of Long-horned beetles living in the dead wood also provide valuable food for woodpeckers. The Ash Bark beetle is another favourite food found in dead trees. The Tree Creeper is frequently seen running up massive branches of old Oaks looking for tiny insects in the crevices. They often use loose Silver Birch bark to nest under. This tree, more frequently the hybrid between the Silver Birch and the Downy Birch, is widespread in Wool woods. In ancient woodlands it only occurs where there are clearings, or openings have occurred, as in 8 Acre Coppice. It needs light and is a fast-growing pioneer species, so more frequently found forming a large part of our more recent woods or woodland belts. Its light branches acting often as a favourite swinging and feeding place for groups Long tailed Tits
Mammals and birds, being mobile, are not usually restricted to ancient woods, and the more recent semi-natural woodlands can be just as rich in these. The planted portion of Highwood has the finest display of Foxgloves in June for miles around. All except purely planted woodlands provide the most natural habitats, unmodified by man. As a result, they show great biodiversity. Being undisturbed, many of our British mammals find them a place of retreat.
Many of our British mammals find them a place of retreat. Nearly all our Parish woods have populations of Sika deer, from which they emerge at night to feed on grassland and garden roses! They also feed in the woods, being browsers and bark strippers, and therefore play an important role in the woodland ecosystem, destroying young trees and preventing regeneration of
trees and regrowth of Hazel coppice. Sika are the most frequent deer in the Parish - easily distinguishable as males with multi-forked antlers, unlike the smaller Roe deer which only have three points. They have white rump patches – both males and females – with a dark edge. The huge mounds of earth excavated by badgers when forming their extensive setts, are found in
many woods. They are also nocturnal, emerging at night to forage for earthworms and bulbs – their staple diet. Badgers are not found in 8 Acre Coppice and deer are infrequent here. Being a long thin strip, also adjoining a road and properties, means it provides less security from disturbance. However, another factor for badgers is that they prefer dry sandy soils for their setts, and this is borne out with their frequency in woods south of the village – particularly Vicarage Coppice lying just outside our Parish in Coombe Keynes, which houses a veritable Badger City. Hedgehogs, woodmice, yellow-necked mice, bank voles, common shrew and the tiny pygmy shrew are all to be found in good numbers in our woodlands feeding on insects, worms and spiders, now less common in some of our manicured gardens. The smallest bat, the Pipistrelle, the Brown Long-eared bat, the Whiskered bat and the Common Noctule bat are all found in the Parish and associated with trees and woods for roosts or feeding areas. The Brown Long-eared bat feeds in woodland amongst the branches, taking food from the leaves. It roosts in lofts and is therefore ideally suited to the environs of Cologne Road, Bovington. The rare Leislers Bat is also recorded for Wool.
A more recent wood is one at the north end of Cologne Road – Pioneer Wood, aptly named and is a stronghold for another fast-growing tree, the Alder Buckthorn. This is the food plant for the lovely yellow early spring butterfly, the Brimstone. Its conifers, as those planted in Cole Wood and Highwood, provide good habitat for the tiniest British bird, the Goldcrest. Long-eared Owls have been seen resting in the Conifers planted on Ministry of Defence land in Bovington. These owls prefer coniferous woodlands, as do Woodlarks recorded for the same Woolbridge Heath area. Mention must now be made of three very young woodlands. One is a natural Ash woodland which has sprung up in old chalk pit – Pug pit – in the centre of the Parish. This is our nearest thing to an alkaline wood, but hundreds of years will be needed before it is clothed in truly alkaline woodland flora, such as Dog’s Mercury and Harts Tongue ferns. However, the mammals and birds have already arrived – watch this space! Two other woodlands are those planted by the Ministry of Defence – one north of Long Coppice helping to breach the break in the circle up to Higher Wood. trees were planted - mostly local native trees, but including some apples (good for birds, eg Bullfinches in bud). They are already fruiting! The other is a small woodland strip connecting 8 Acre Coppice with another very small ancient woodland. This was a joint project with the Ministry of Defence, the local community, the International Tree Foundation and pupils from Wool St Mary’s First Catholic School. This will help counteract the negative effect of isolation on ancient woodland populations.
One mystery wood is Menin Wood, running down from the Military Hospital to Cranesmoor. The name is recent, redolent of the First World War when cement bases for wooden huts were built in part of it. However, it is on the 1st Edition of the OS map – a good hallmark for ancient woodland. It has a mixture of Beech, Yew, Holly and Oak, with some Birch and plantings of Pine. Its ground flora is not indicative of ancient woodland, apart from extensive patches of Butcher’s Broom. However it is certainly semi-natural and the massive growth of Holly as an understorey may have shaded out other plants. There is almost no Hazel. It has not been managed as Hazel coppice – another possibility for poor flowering component – but as high forest. Is it possible that some of the old Beeches were not planted. Certainly, Clapham, Tutin and Warburg in their British flora, refer to Beech being native in Dorset, possibly at the limit of its most south westerly range. Certainly the Yew is not. Have we in fact got an element of a Beech Hanger such as occur in Hampshire; “Hangr” is the old English word meaning wooded slope. Certainly the topography is right and the composition of sandy gravels over chalk and clay is similar. It may have developed from scrub on chalk or neutral grassland. Certainly, chalk-loving plants occur nearby on an area of the adjoining “Heathland”!
Threats to our woodlands are many. Man is the worst threat and even seemingly natural threats are man-created in the first instance. Perhaps the worst “natural” threats are Grey squirrels and Sika deer, both introduced by man. Sika deer were introduced for deer parks in the 18th Century, but got into the wild in the 19th Century. Now numbers have gone beyond the carrying capacity of the woods. Lovely as it is to see large and graceful wild mammals on our doorstep, unless controls are carried out, the effect of no regeneration because of browsing will result in the non-replacement of trees as they die. Some trees such as Oak are more vulnerable than others. Grey squirrels, introduced in the early 19th Century, ring bark older trees and remove buds, besides raiding birds’ nests for eggs and young. Over 25 years ago Cole Wood had its old Oaks poisoned and removed and replanting of Lodge Pole Pine occurred. Conifers cast deep shade and drop needles causing acid soils unacceptable to much of the woodland ground flora, so biodiversity was lost and now it is the fringe alone of this ancient woodland which shows the indicator flowers that would have been widespread throughout the wood.
Where woodland abuts urban style development, as in parts of Cologne Road, fly tipping (a whole black sack full of unwanted fish on one occasion) of garden rubbish, mattresses, televisions, old fridges and bicycles occurs. This is of course illegal and can collect a fine. How often is it spotted
and reported though. Even garden rubbish enriches the soil – smothers delicate woodland flowers and replaces them by more aggressive species such as goose grass and nettles. Rhododendron introduced from the Himalayas is another alien. None of our native wildlife feeds on it and it can totally overgrow the ground layer with its flowers, the shrub layer and even smother the tree canopy. Rhododendron likes acid soils and is mainly a nuisance in woods on the sandstone caps south of the village, such as Dorset Wood and Haremere Coppice. Knopper galls caused by larvae of Knopper Gall wasps share their life cycles between Turkey Oaks and our Common Oak. Turkey Oaks were introduced in 1735 and survives the attacks. Our native Oaks, mainly the Pedunculate Oak, here in Wool have their regeneration threatened, as sometimes over 90% of the acorns are distorted into weird shapes looking like rabbit vertebrae, and are thereby usually totally unviable. Some of these evils can be reversed if something is done soon enough. Maybe the Lodge Pole Pines will be removed from Cole Wood and it will be allowed to revert, given time, to something of its former glory. Sometime a squirrel anti-fertility drug which is host specific may be introduced. However, if a wood is clear felled or damaged through vandalism, recovery may be impossible. Vandalism has occurred in 8 Acre Coppice and a tree with a Greater Spotted Woodpecker’s nest in it was knocked down. Road extensions and replacements with housing developments are the greatest threat.
To date some successes are recorded at keeping these from removing our exceptional heritage. A tip-off to Dorset County Council Highways planners routed the very beneficial cycle path along Bovington Lane to the south, keeping it clear of a small grove of Aspen trees in natural woodland to the north of the road. Suggestions to build in Pug Pit, our new natural woodland, have been turned down by the Parish Council. 8 Acre Coppice, many years back rumoured for housing, is now doubly protected by the Ministry of Defence and Dorset County Council agreeing to it becoming a Local Nature Reserve. This has double protection – both statutory and at grass roots level. Local people have formed a Friends Group working with a Management Group to maintain and improve its biodiversity and keep a wary eye open. Various strategies include restricting access to part of the wood during the birds nesting season, removing some Holly to improve light for lichens at the north end of the wood and recoppicing parts of the woodland to encourage Bluebells, whilst letting others become more natural with fallen trees and providing good cover for nesting birds. There is a volunteer patrol of the wood in the birds’ nesting season, and there are two display boards educating users about its value. Perhaps this book itself will alert people to how precious and fragile Wool’s natural environment is.
