Woodland Conservation Group – Tuesdays

21 October 2025

Shepherdleas Wood – Bluebell Slopes

The weather was perfect for our session today, especially following the heavy showers on Monday.  Good Autumn temperatures along with some sunshine led to a very pleasant working environment for our small group of four volunteers.

Again, we returned to the new glade which was established last year in the north-west corner of the wood.  This glade takes advantage of the increased light resulting from an opening in the canopy created by some large, standing dead-wood trees, most likely oak trees.  Our sessions in this area have focussed on clearing shrubbery, brambles and ivy from beneath the dead trees to expose more of the woodland floor to light.   Importantly, we hope that this will create improved conditions for the spread of woodland plants on the ground floor layer, including a variety of grasses, garlic mustard, nettles etc, all of which will attract more invertebrates.  In addition, it should help any dormant bluebells to emerge and spread. We will be keeping an eye out for them over coming months and years.

While rain can be a little annoying at times, the benefit of the recent rain was it had softened the ground. Most of our time was spent pulling up brambles, roots attached, which came up relatively easily.

The open area is now a little larger and a little lighter.  Hopefully, we will have a good show of woodland flowers and plants in the spring for everyone to enjoy as they walk through the wood.