Clowes Wood & New Fallings Coppice

Also within

Warwickshire CountyWest Midlands County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Bracken scrub, Coppiced woodland

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Quaternary

Birds & fish recorded

Birds

Description

Area, 45.3 ha. 111.9 ac. Description Clowes Wood and New Fallings Coppice lie to the south east of Birmingham on fluvioglacial sands, clays and gravels of Quaternary drift which overlies Keuper Marl. The two woods are contiguous, but Clowes Wood is bisected by the Birmingham to Stratford railway. These ancient woodlands support an important breeding bird population. Clowes Wood and New Fallings Coppice are examples of lowland mixed oak woods Quercus spp. where both sessile oak Q. petraea and pedunculate oak Quercus robur are present. Understorey species include silver birch Betula pendula, holly Ilex aquifolium and rowan Sorbus aucuparia with occasional crab apple Malus sylvestris and alder buckthorn Frangula alnus. hazel Corylus avellana is present in parts of the wood. The ground flora is strongly acidophilous acid loving and is dominated by bracken Pteridium aquilinum and bramble Rubus fruticosus agg. with abundant wavy hair grass Deschampsia flexuosa, wood sage Teucrium scorodonia and bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Common cow wheat Melampyrum pratense and lily of the valley Convallaria majalis which are also found here, are rare elsewhere in Warwickshire. Along the streams are small wet areas of alder Alnus glutinosa wood. Oak and downy birch Betula pubescens are also present in the canopy, over an understorey of hazel, holly and birch, with occasional aspen Populus tremula and alder buckthorn. The ground flora is dominated by bramble, creeping soft grass Holcus mollis, plicate sweet grass Glyceria notata and lesser pond sedge Carex acutiformis. Forty nine species of woodland bird breed in Clowes Wood, including all three species of woodpecker and six species of tit including willow tit Poecile montanus. Wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix, lesser whitethroat Sylvia curruca and grasshopper warbler Locustella naevia breed regularly along with five other species of warbler. Predators are represented by sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, kestrel Falco tinnunculus and tawny owl Strix aluco.

Species mentioned

Plant communities