Areley Wood

Also within

Worcestershire County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Ancient woodland, Bracken scrub, Carr, Coppiced woodland, Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Carboniferous, Devonian

Landscape processes: Glacial

Description

Description Areley Wood is a large ancient semi natural woodland, with substantial parts under coppice management. The woodland is situated in an area of concentrated biodiversity interest within the Midland Plateau Natural Area and is the largest example of damp alder oak wood present. It is also of special interest for the assemblage of breeding bird species. The steep valley along the Gladder Brook is base rich and provides variety to the woodland stand types and to the floristic interest. The site lies one kilometre west of the town of Stourport on Severn, Worcestershire. The woodland lies close to the southern reaches of the Wyre Forest and is a remnant of a once extensive tract of ancient woodland. The woodland overlies the Old Red Sandstones of the Devonian Period, with a small part over the Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures. This geology gives rise to steeply dissected valleys, with areas of overlying glacial clay head deposits. The main drainage is formed by the Gladder Brook and smaller tributaries flowing east into the River Severn. The soils are acidic to neutral, giving rise to significantly different stand types from the Wyre Forest SSSI to the north. Waterlogged spring line seepages are frequent in the wood. Woodland Flora The woodland is dominated by the pedunculate oak bracken bramble woodland stand type with a mixture of sessile oak Quercus petrea, pedunculate oak Quercus robur, ash Fraxinus excelsior and scattered yew Taxus baccata. The woodland has an unusual abundance of alder Alnus glutinosa, due to influence of groundwater flushing; this forms a transition between the oak bracken bramble and alder ash creeping jenny woodland stand types. The wood originates from stored coppice approximately 100 years old, over a third of which has been re-coppiced to form a dense, diverse understorey. Frequent trees and shrubs in the coppice include birch Betula pendula, hazel Corylus avellana, wild cherry Prunus avium, dogwood Cornus sanguinea, holly Ilex aquifolium, rowan Sorbus aucuparia, wild service Sorbus domestica and crab apple Malus sylvestris. Small areas of conifer are present. Along the Gladder Brook valley the woodland is more base rich, with a greater diversity of shrubs and trees including ash, alder, field maple Acer campestre, crack willow Salix fragilis and aspen Populus tremula. Small leaved lime Tilia cordata is common including several ancient pollards, with occasional large leaved lime Tilia platyphyllos which is nationally scarce. Wych elm Ulmus glabra used to be a common tree but is now limited to the understorey by Dutch elm disease. There is an area of sloping alder carr woodland adjacent to the brook rich in ferns, including narrow buckler fern Dryopteris carthusiana, scaly male fern Dryopteris affinis and hard fern Blechnum spicant. On the drier ground the woodland conforms to the oak birch wavy hair grass woodland type with bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus, bracken Pteridium aquilinum, wavy hair grass Deschampsia flexuosa, common cow wheat Melampyrum pratense and bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Damper soils dominate most of the woodland with ramsons Allium ursinum, frequent wood anemone Anemone nemorosa, bugle Ajuga reptans, meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, nettle leaved bellflower Campanula trachelium and pendulous sedge Carex pendula. On more base rich soil broad leaved helleborine Epipactis helleborine and violet helleborine Epipactis purpurata occur. The nationally scarce narrow leaved bitter cress Cardamine impatiens occurs along disturbed trackways in the wood. The rides contains a number of locally uncommon species of unimproved grasslands, including lady's mantle Alchemilla filicaulis ssp. vestita, lousewort Pedicularis sylvatica and adder's tongue Ophioglossum vulgatum.

Species mentioned

Plant communities