Whitwell Coppice

Also within

Shropshire County Shropshire Hills Scenic Area

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Coppiced woodland, Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Silurian

Description

Area, 15.9 ha. 39.2 ac. Description As well as being an outstanding woodland this site has important geological exposures of Silurian age along the stream banks. Biology Whitwell Coppice is an example of the mixed deciduous woodland characteristic of the Wenlock Shales and Limestones. Woodland types include: i. sessile oak Quercus petraea, ash Fraxinus excelsior and small leaved lime Tilia cordata; ii. ash and field maple Acer campestre; iii. sessile oak, ash and hazel Corylus avellana; iv. sessile oak, ash and wych elm Ulmus glabra; and v. alder Alnus glutinosa. These vegetation types are correlated with variations in soil type. small leaved lime is comparatively abundant and frequently occurs as pollards and coppice stools, some of which are extremely large. The wild service tree Sorbus torminalisis unusually frequent and the rare large leaved lime Tilia platyphyllos is present. There is a rich flora of shrubs and herbs, many of which are characteristic of base rich soils; for example, spindle Euonymus europaeus, tutsan Hypericum androsaemum, ramsons Allium ursinum, sweet woodruff Galium odoratum, sanicle Sanicula europaea, dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis and nettle leaved bellflower Campanula trachelium. Geology This is one of Britain’s most important geological localities, internationally recognised as the standard reference section for the base of the Homerian Stage, the upper half of the Wenlock Series of the Silurian System. The base of the stage occurs here in the middle of the Coalbrookdale Formation and is defined by the changing make up of assemblages of diagnostic fossils known as graptolites.

Species mentioned

Plant communities