Woodland Conservation - Tuesdays

Shepherdleas Wood - The Glade

Tuesday, 26th May 2026

Tuesday’s woodland conservation session fell within the recent May heatwave and it was hot, hot, hot! 

We rarely cancel sessions unless there is a real danger to our volunteers, and we leave the decision to individuals as to whether they wish to attend or not – and guess what?  Six determined volunteers braved the heat and got down to work. Before the usual health and safety introduction, volunteers were reminded to make sure that, during the session, they drank plenty of water, worked at a steady pace and took lots of mini breaks.  The decision was also made to finish the session at noon, so volunteers were not working at peak temperatures.

The naturally formed glade with 2 standing dead trees.

Shepherdleas is a lovely, shaded wood in most areas and the session was planned for the bluebell slope behind Berry Hill where the canopy is almost fully closed and the woodland is heavily shaded. The focus for our activities returned to the glade – an area where we worked last year.  The glade has been created naturally where three large trees had died, remain standing which is great habitat, whilst losing branches and creating an open space in the canopy where light and water could penetrate. 

Previously, we had removed invasive shrubs such as cherry laurel, and competitive trees such as holly, as well as sycamore saplings, brambles and bracken – all of which were preventing the light which was able to get through the open canopy from reaching the ground.  We knew from members of the community that if we could clear the area, we were likely to find many dormant bluebells beneath.  While that is a wonderful aim, it was not our only aim, which is always to encourage as much biodiversity as possible.  In time, we are hoping for a wide range of ground vegetation to provide habitat for as many invertebrates and pollinators as possible.    

That, of course, does not just happen without repeated visits so Tuesday saw us removing the new growth of bramble, and the huge fronds of bracken, both of which grow rapidly on cleared ground and cast shadow over the woodland floor. 

Our third activity was to extend the glade further - a few metres North and West – and we will continue with this activity until we have cleared all the brambles, bracken and shade-casting vegetation from beneath the opening/s formed by the standing dead trees.

Extending the cleared area beneath the standing dead trees.

As usual, all the waste materials were added to the surrounding, protective, dead hedges to rot down and return those valuable nutrients to the woodland floor. 

Waste is left to rot down on existing dead hedges.g

A win-win situation for the woodland flora and fauna, as well as acting as protection for the area.