Woodland Mosaic of Flora

Ancient woodlands are marked by so-called "indicator species" (plants, shrubs, trees, fungi and invertebrates) that spread very slowly in the natural countryside and thrive best in environments that have built up through centuries of growth and decay. They often demand/create a particular soil structure, mycelium and woodland understorey.

Using a number of sources, we have compiled a reference list of potential ancient woodland indicators. Our list (PDF) is made up of plants most suited to our chalkland and clay (brickearth) dip-slope. We don't expect to find all of them and some have come as a surprise.

On 4th April 2024, we welcomed Sue Buckingham (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) recorder) and John Puckett (Wildwood) to explore the condition of the enclosed meadow and woodland. The report (PDF) can be found here. They plan to return in late June/July to identify summer-time additions. Plants confirmed by them are marked [SB&JP].

Indicators found in Toll Wood (updated April 2024):-

In early Spring, much of the woodland floor is a carpet of intermingled Moschatel, Dog's Mercury, Wood Anemone and Bluebells. Primroses add an occasional splash of colour. At the widest point (E-W), the Wood Anemone spreads continuously up to 93 metres. The N-S spread is approximately 150 metres. Wood anemone spreads by 2cm-5cm per year. A crude calculation suggests an age for the wood of between 2,400 and 960 years (E-W axis). This range may be plausible (but needs a pinch of salt as 'spread' may have been helped by working in the wood). If we adopt Oliver Rackham's reasoning, if a feature such as a wood has no outside influence to change its formation, then it is reasonable to suggest that feature stretches into antiquity. Our records show that previous owners of this land have cultivated the whole of the Lyn Valley both as a Park, grazing and as orchards. The exception is Toll Wood that served as a "sporting woodland" and occasional source of timber. The plot is too small for single-species plantation management. All that said, the abundance of sycamore and ash in the south of the wood is of similar age - suggesting clear-felling may have happened at this extremity. The, mostly random, intermingling of 24 native species of trees confirms that timber production was a by-product rather than an objective.

Further north, down the Lyn Valley, cultivation of the slopes for hard fruit are remembered locally as using terraces that have since disappeared.

Other flora in the wood and meadow:-