Pleasure Grounds

Thinning

The removal of ten trees each year to increase structural diversity of the woodland. The trees are felled and the stumps treated to stop regrowth. Non-native species such as sycamore and Holm oak are targeted as a priority. Thinning creates opportunities for planted native species or naturally regenerating native species to flourish with more sunlight reaching down to the woodland floor. Whilst this encourages initial growth of bramble, this disappears after a number of years once the sapling trees start to outcompete the surrounding bramble. Sunlight also brings back native ground flora such as Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) below left and species like Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa) below right.

Coppicing

Rotationally coppicing Hazel (Corylus avellana) to encourage regrowth. Multi-stemmed trees are cut to just above ground level and are not stump treated so that new growth will appear. New shoots spring up surprisingly quickly. In each year of the ten-year plan, hazel stools in various parts of the woodland are being coppiced to create age diversity across the woodland.

In the pictures above, you can see a traditionally coppiced hazel stool on the left and the one on the right shows one of the thinner whips being bent over and fixed into the ground to create a new tree. Once the whip has rooted, it will send up a new tree a few feet away from the original stool. By layering hazel in this way, we shall increase the number and density of new trees in several small hazel copses.

Holm Oak

One or two non-native Holm oaks will be retained in each of the six woodland compartments in the upper and lower Pleasure Grounds. Others will be removed.

Rhododendron

Remove all rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum) over the duration of the Plan, except a narrow band to be left on the eastern side of Blackbush Road.

Sunny Glade Creation

Create new, or maintain a number of existing glades in compartments.
These traditional woodland management techniques are being taken across the whole woodland to provide age and species diversity and to encourage woodland butterflies for the enjoyment of the whole community.