Narrows Wood

 2023 Autumn Tree Planting Tree Planting Season is here! This October we are Planing to Plant 255 new trees at our Woodland. 180 Trees to improve our Trackside Hedgerows & to replace the Beech trees that failed to grow along our woodland edge. We will be planting 30 blackthorn, 20 dog rose, 30 crab apple, 30 goat willow, 30 rowan & 40 Hawthorn. This will hopefully help improve the biodiversity of our woodland, creating corridors for wildlife between the farmland and the woodland. As well as the new Hedgerow planting we have also planed to install new coppice planting within our woodland giving Us a crop of new Hazel coppice & Sweet Chestnut Coppice. Last year we experimented with the planting of 5 Sweet Chestnut trees and 3 have survived giving Us confidence in expanding our Experimental crop of Sweet Chestnut planting. This year we plan to plant another 15 within our woodland. Sweet Chestnut take a long time before they will produce nuts, aroun...

Tree Growth Project  The objective of this project is to collect valuable information and data about tree growth.  Tree growth is a key ecological parameter of forests strongly linked to a range of influencing factors.  By examining differences in tree growth between years, (including potential species-specific growth in response to events such as drought or frost),  these measurements can improve our understanding of the response of trees to changes to woodland management and climate change across the country.  The project is being done in partnership with  forestry commission research Dept & Sylva Foundation Lead scientist: Dr Matthew Wilkinson Forest Research Dept Stewardship Scientist John Williams Narrows Wood Owner Data collection via MyForest APP Sylva Foundation Six Oak trees have been fitted around Narrows wood with Special Girth Bands that will measure the growth of our Oak trees as Part of the wider Project By the Forestry Commission around t...

Narrows Wood July Big Butterfly Count   Each year we Plan to do a Big Butterfly Count at our Small Wood each July. We will pass data collected on to the Butterfly Conservation Group. 21/07/2023 We spotted 4 Species of Butterfly at our Woodland Site, 5 butterflies in our 15 min survey count.  Next year we are hoping to make this an annual Social event with friends & family towards the end of July time. By then the Horseflies should not be a problem as they are active from Early June to July. Then End of July is also a good time to collect the Wild Raspberries at the woods too. July is prime Wild Raspberry Foraging Time! 1 Red Admiral  2 Meadow Brown 1 male & 1 female 2 Large White & 1 Comma 2026 News This Summer we hope to record data of our Big Butterfly Count at our site! Visit our Survey Page for Results. Survey Data

 Bat Roost Project We will be installing 3 Bat Boxes on some of our Sessile Oak trees to provide some additional roosting spots around our Woodland. There are currently many old oak trees around our wood with cracks, holes & crevice's that may provide roost spots for bats. By providing additional man made boxes it is hoped that we can add additional places to the Natural environment for roosting bats. Once we have installed the boxes they will be permanently in stalled and not touched as Bats are legally protected by law. We will be able to monitor our boxes via Non-invasive means by watching with night vision binoculars bats coming in and out of the roost. By using bat detectors & also via Trail cams placed on Opposite trees. All these methods are Non intrusive and valuable way of monitoring bats. Please return for project Updates. 30/06/23 Added 2 extra holes in the bottom board for extra security for fitting to trees.  For more information on Bats visit   ...

Dormouse Project   Non Invasive Monitoring Dormouse Project Spring 2025 In the Spring of 2025 we plan to start a  Non Invasive Monitoring project to discover if we have Dormouse in our Part of the Cwmgilla Woodland. There is a likely hood that we have Resident Dormice due to the fact that our wood is a Oak & Hazel coppice woodland. So we must assume that Dormice exist in our Semi Ancient Woodland in Mid-Wales.  As our wood is only small at 1.4 acres this project will only be a small project and we have ordered only 10 Dormouse Nest Tubes which will be places around our old Hazel coppice trees. Following the advice from the People's Trust for Endangered Species ,  on Managing Small Woodlands for Dormice. Follow link below if like Us you own a small woodland and need advice. https://ptes.org/campaigns/dormice/hazel-dormouse-conservation/woodland-management/ The Nest Tubes will only be checked at the end of the year In November when any Dormouse would have Now gone ...

Hedgehog Project  04/06/23 ( R )   West European hedgehog   Click link above for more info about Hedgehogs. Hedgehog Conservation status Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.  Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. IUCN Red List for British Mammals - vulnerable to extinction. We recently spotted a Hedgehog in our woodland, which has created a Natural home in the Leaf litter under some Brambles in our Woodland. Now that we know they Hedgehogs are Present in our woodland we can now look at protecting & Monitoring Hedgehogs.   08/09/23 Update We have ordered two Hedgehog Houses and waiting for them to arrive. Once they have arrived Tracey & I will be painting them with wildlife friendly paint to protect them from the elements. We will then put them together as they arrive flat packed and in stall them in strategic locations around the wood where we think hedgehogs my prefer the shelter.  It is hoped ...

  We at Narrows Wood have been selected as Stewardship Scientists in a New Collaborative research project, with Forest Scientists in the UK from Forest Research & The Sylva foundation!  These projects are to Study the Effects of Climate Change & how to  improve Species suitability for Narrows Wood as part of our Management Program. Project 1 - Ecological Site Classification. Project 2 - Growth 04/06/23  6 Girth bands now installed on site to monitor the Sessile Oak Tree Growth at our woodland. The installation of the Girth bands will allow us to monitor the Growth and health of our wood collecting Data to relay back to Forest Research Scientists at Forest Lab.  Tree Growth Project