Working in our woodland
Marwell Wildlife is fortunate to own a well-connected network of woodland which surrounds the park, consisting of predominantly Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) with a rich flora and fauna. The woodland, totalling around 29 hectares, is dominated by pendunculate oak or English oak (Quercus robur), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and field maple (Acer campestre), but also has significant areas of beech (Fagus sylvatica) and hazel (Corylus avellana). The woodland has considerable value for conservation and the long-term restoration of this area commenced in 2010.
Restoration of woodland to enhance the specialist habitat
Historically, the woodland would have expanded across neighbouring areas and indeed within the wildlife park itself, with historical records indicating a change in land use from a medieval deer park to productive coppiced woodland and later some parts being converted to arable farming. There has been a recognised decline in broadleaf wood since the fall in their active and commercial management and this is a major concern on a regional and national scale. Marwell woodland saw a reduction in active management after the Second World War, although continual small-scale management was ongoing for associated game bird control. Marwell now has the unique opportunity to restore its ancient woodlands connecting it to the surrounding landscape, enhancing the specialist habitat and increasing the richness of wildlife dwelling within.
The ecological value of the woodlands can be demonstrated by the number of ancient woodland indicator (AWI) species, key vascular plants that are recognised as indicators of habitat age and natural diversity. Around 40 of these species have been recorded in the woodlands around Marwell indicating a huge biological potential for restoration which reinforces the importance of managing the area for conservation.
Thanks to our supporters
With support from the Forestry Commission, Veolia Environmental Trust and generous donations, Marwell has commenced works to restore a number of specific copses within the woodland. Using trusted contractors, team volunteers and Marwell staff we are able to achieve a careful level of habitat management through selective thinning and sensitive restoration.
The works are undertaken in gradual stages in an effort to sensitively improve the woodland and retain its unique conservation value. Initial phases integrate the thinning of a larch plantation and the extraction of the timber using horse logging. Thinning gradually opens the dense canopy allowing light to the woodland floor to promote the growth of ground flora, whilst the horse logging provides sensitive extraction of the timber minimising disturbance. Successive phases aim to restore some of the neglected hazel coppice and manage copses dominated with oak and ash.
Reversing trends of declining key species
Rotational coppice is a historical practice adopted over hundreds of years to repeatedly generate high volumes of wood stems from the same stool or stump. The cutting of the re-growth on rotations of 7-20 years meant a usable product could be attained for fencing, building materials and fuel. The age of our woodlands and the remaining coppice stools indicates that at one time they were highly productive, generating anything up to 10,000 stems per acre. Reintroducing such historical techniques re-establishes the complex under-storey habitat and diverse growth phases typical of ancient woodland coppice. The practices re-establish structural variation, species diversity as well as a wealth of resources once available to other woodland wildlife.
The decline in native woodland taxa has been observed nationally, but reintroducing practices within an integrated landscape approach will begin to attract key species which were once prolific within our woodlands. Such species as the Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), which has specific habitat and dietary requirements and was last recorded in the 1990s in Marwell’s woodlands. Other observed declines include woodland birds with a fall of up to 95% in some species since the 1970s. It is likely that the nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) has declined in Marwell’s woodland due to the loss of woodland undergrowth and increased deer pressure on low shrubs. Targeted management can assist in reversing these trends and a sensitive approach to habitat management will have long-term benefits for the conservation of the ancient woodland as a whole as well as key species.