Improving the biodiversity of Lime Kiln Wood

The Lime Kiln Wood Trust has now received the support of the Forestry Commission, and encouragement of the charity Butterfly Conservation, to expand its work in improving the wood’s biodiversity. This is in line with our management plan (see elsewhere on this website), and in essence involves letting more light into the wood to stimulate the growth of woodland plants and thus encourage the return of various invertebrates including the high brown fritillary Arginnis ardippe. What this means is that our coppicing and sycamore-thinning activities can be stepped up so that the wood is returned more quickly to an optimum condition. The next phase of these management activities will start later in 2012, following our first round of coppicing in autumn/winter 2011/12. The hazel we coppiced last year is already shooting vigorously and shows few signs of browsing by deer, even when not protected by ‘wigwams’.