Can't see the wood for the trees

This is just a little bit of the woodland at Churchwood. The path runs all down the side of the campus connecting North Lodge to South Lodge. It mainly consists of beech (Fagus sylvatica), holly (Ilex aquifolium), laurel (Laurus nobilis) and birch (Betula pubescens). It's used by dog walkers, cyclists, and students.

Ilex aquifolium

In this woodland, as with the one at the opposite end of campus, Queenswood, there are several bird and bat boxes to try and encourage more wildlife onto the campus.

It's not possible for me to say whether or not they are being utilised as we don't monitor their usage, but it would be great if we could. The last time bat boxes were affixed to trees was in 2012 by Paul, Carl and myself. Hopefully next year we will be putting some more bird boxes as well as bat boxes up.

At the opposite end of campus is the woodland known as Queenswood. This woodland is very similar  to Churchwood in that it contains the same variety of trees. This woodland is used mainly by dog walkers and a student running group. The paths are extremely muddy at the moment so take care if you walk through the wood!

One of the stand out sections of this woodland has to be the Queen Victoria monument. No one really knows its origin except that it was created in 1858. Some say it was built as a celebration of Queen Victoria's 39th birthday but no-one really knows for sure. If it was for her birthday then it was such a shame as she didn't even turn up!

The grounds team are in the process of clearing some of the trees from this wood to try and open it up a bit more and to allow stronger trees to develop. There is a lot of overcrowding in some patches so we need to thin these out so that at least some of the saplings have a chance. By doing so we are encouraging more ground cover plants to appear which is great for the local wildlife and it allows visitors and members of the public to see all the gorgeous bluebells that are starting to appear.

Fingers crossed we don't get too much frost or snow which could kill off these bulbs before they flower. The weather seems a bit crazy at the moment so a lot of plants are thinking spring is already here and are starting to get their buds or even, like these daffodils, starting to flower!

#woodland #wildlife #trees
(Photos taken by myself on Thursday 28th January, daffodils taken on Tuesday 26th, and Paul putting up the bat box in 2012)