The Conservation Value of Wilderness Wood
Dormouse - Wilderness Wood is not an ideal for location for dormice, but we will strive to get there.
Wilderness Wood has never been a jewel in the biodiversity crown, at least not in recent history. When the Yarrows took over the wood some 40 or more years ago it was pretty well clear-felled and clear coppiced (read Chris Yarrow's Book, Thirty Years in Wilderness Wood).
Fast forward to 2014 when Dan and Emily took over the venture (and when I first showed my face here) and it was largely a coniferous plantation with chestnut coppice. A much more interesting place to visit than 30 years earlier, but still not blessed with the large number of species found in ancient woodland.
Even coniferous plantation areas of Wilderness Wood have wildlife value and certainly make an impact upon visitors
Nonetheless, woods such as this have their role to play in the promotion of woodland conservation. Over the last 10 years we have tried to improve the biodiversity of the wood, although it is a long process to get there. If you are looking for ancient woodland packed with a high number of native species then there are plenty of alternative ancient woods to visit in Sussex. The Sussex Wildlife Trust, The RSPB and The Woodland Trust all look after sizeable chunks of species rich woodland.
“Well,” you are thinking, “what is the conservation value of Wilderness Wood then?”
It's all about winning hearts and minds. Wilderness Wood attracts many thousands of the public each year, who come for a day out, especially those from London and other large towns and cities. I once worked for The London Wildlife Trust running a wildlife gardening centre in Peckham. I also ran an urban wildlife nature reserve and environmental education centre just 1 mile from the centre of Canterbury. Both these centres were the first stage in the process of winning hearts and minds.
Appreciation of wildlife and more specifically woodland wildlife has to start somewhere local. If you live in an inner city area your first introduction could well be a small local greenspace, or even your back garden. Children and adults can quickly 'take ownership' of these spaces and their wildlife. They may be small and they may not have much in the way of trees, but like giant oaks they are the acorns of wildlife conservation. But we are not necessarily talking about wildlife richness, but wildlife appreciation.
Hook children with a pond full of invertebrates and frogs and they are open to appreciation of other habitats, elsewhere in the world. Adults can be much the same, but perhaps take more encouragement.
The former Canterbury Environmental Education Centre (marked in blue with an electricity substation within it), an urban greenspace which inspired the next generation of wildlife lovers
The next stage is therefore to take children and adults from areas of nature deficit to somewhere even more inspiring. This is where Wilderness Wood comes into its own. Only an hours drive from South London and even nearer to Brighton, it is close enough for a day trip. Further, it offers other supporting attractions a. a safe place to explore, b. refreshments and toilets on site, c. somewhere under cover to hide if it rains, d. beautiful timber framed buildings, e. play equipment for the kids to amuse themselves on, f. helpful staff and nature trails to follow, and of course g. a large wooded area full of enormous trees.
At my nature reserve in Canterbury I always took pride in focussing hearts and minds on the wonders of nature through education involving play and practical activities such as pond dipping, nature art, poetry, drama and singing and then suggest bigger, wilder and more exotic places to take the next step up. In the case of Canterbury there was Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve just a few miles down the road.
To some extent Wilderness Wood sacrifices some of its wildness by being so accessible and providing for the needs of a lot of people in a relatively small (60 acre) space. Here they can develop the skills, responsible behaviour and awareness to appreciate alternative venues such as The Mens Nature Reserve, Ebernoe Common, Woods Mill and Flatropers Wood.
Yes we play an important role in Nature Conservation, but the sacrifices our environment has to make can be a little disappointing. Children (and parents) can get a bit carried away and trample on the great swathes of Bluebells which cloak the woodland floor in May. Too much shouting can impact upon the variety of birds available (especially the shyer ones). Dogs treated with flea powder and allowed to jump into our wildlife ponds will add the flea powder to the pond water. This will kill the amphibians and invertebrates living there.
Swathes of Bluebells cover the woodland floor in May - please tread carefully to ensure they return next year
So our biggest challenge is to get the richest biodiversity we can out of a small area, whilst giving visitors the best nature experience possible at the same time. This is where careful management of our environment comes in. We have created an excellent peripheral A to Z trail around the wood for people to follow. This ensures an easy walking surface for everyone, old and young. We educate, inform and entertain through leaflets, our web site, guided activities, walks and play and using judiciously placed direction signs.
On the other hand we are working to improve biodiversity in a few areas by retaining as much water as possible in the wood (stream, pond, wetland etc.), developing grassland areas and woodland glades and through careful management of the trees.
Wilderness Wood Map given to visitors to help guide them around the wood
We have taken great strides during our first 10 years here, give us another 10 and we will be much closer to the holy grail of a wildlife rich nature reserve which also provides for all the needs of wildlife aware visitors.
That's the Conservation Value of Wilderness Wood
David Horne - author of A Year in the Wilderness (available from Amazon)