Wednesday’s Great Big Green Week event focused on Managing woodland and grassland for CO2 reduction & biodiversity.
Anne led the party from the Church of the Good Shepherd to nearby Middleton Wood, which is classed as Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland, meaning it has been continuously wooded for at least 400 years – and probably since the end of the last ice age! It had been managed for hundreds of years to yield timber and fuel, but as other sources of these became available and more convenient, had been largely neglected for decades, and had suffered from sheep getting in and suppressing most new growth.
In the last five years the wood has been managed primarily to improve biodiversity. Sheep have been excluded by new fencing, which has allowed seedlings to grow; and a programme of hazel coppicing has let more light in, and stimulated leafy growth beneath the tree canopy, creating food and cover for insects and the other wildlife that feeds on them. It also provides firewood for the home, and because young and coppiced trees grow faster, increases the rate of CO2 absorption by the woodland. The small branches and twigs get left in piles, which rot slowly and provide food for the micro-organisms at the bottom of the food chain; homes for small mammals, and nesting sites for wrens. There are 13 bird boxes that are regularly used by blue tits and great tits, and less often by nuthatches and pied flycatchers.
Leaving the wood, we crossed Croasdale Beck footbridge to return to the church, where Helen explained that the churchyard has been for the last few years part of the God’s Own Acre scheme, which has the aim of maximising biodiversity on church property. The old part of the graveyard is left unmown for the summer, and as it has never been used for agriculture, the result has been the unexpected appearance of many wild flowers, and even some orchids; the seeds had lain dormant for decades, waiting for their opportunity, and insects have been able to enjoy a new and varied feeding ground. Bird boxes have also been installed.
Our thanks to Anne and Helen for a fascinating afternoon.