Moss Valley Woodlands nature reserve is a beautiful ancient woodland spot and home to some of the most spectacular carpets of native bluebells in the country every spring.
Thanks to Viridor Credits Environmental Company and Countryside Stewardship, in addition to a number of generous donors, we have received funding to improve woodland tracks and thin the woodland, improving it for wildlife.
There will be short term disruption whilst machinery is working in the woodlands over the next few months, so we’d like to thank visitors for their understanding whilst the work is taking place.
We have recently started work to resurface 1km of the notoriously muddy concessionary bridleway which runs through Long Wood. This will make visiting the woodland easier all year round and will also facilitate access for management of the nature reserve. We also plan to install new kissing gates at key entrances to the reserve to prevent illicit motorbike access, and new waymarkers to help people find their way around the reserve.
This autumn we will also be carrying out woodland thinning in parts of Long Wood, Bridle Road Wood and Newfield Spring Wood. The woodlands are rapidly becoming dominated by dense beech, sycamore and holly. As a result there is very little regeneration of native oak trees and the woodland wild flowers getting swamped out. The aim of the works will be to reduce the proportion of beech and sycamore in the woods (neither of which are native to this area) and also to thin out some of the oaks. This will improve conditions for regeneration of oak seedlings, enabling long-term survival of the woodlands, and also to provide space for mature oaks in the woodland to thrive and develop into veteran trees.
Find out more about Moss Valley Woodlands here.