Who Are We and What Do We
Do?
Bramingham
Wood is an area of natural woodland, located immediately to the north of the
town of Luton in the County of Bedfordshire. In 1985, the Woodland Trust, a
nation-wide charity now with in excess of 100,000 members, took over the
management and subsequently the ownership of Bramingham Wood from the then
private owners. Consisting of approximately 45 acres, the wood is classified as
an "ancient woodland" in that it has known to have been in existence for at
least 400 years and has probably been a woodland for much
longer.
Soon after
the Trust took over the wood, the Bramingham Wood Volunteers were formed - an
initially unskilled group of local residents who cared about their local wood.
The group have carried out the work on behalf of the Trust since this time,
creating firstly a network of paths through the wood. Then the "coppice with
standards" management was re-introduced which involves cutting an acre of wood
every year on a 12 year cycle, leaving particularly good standard trees to grow
on.
This
cutting, whilst looking devastating at first, has the effect of prolonging the
life of the trees cut down - new growth coming from the stools. The effect of
this work in the past, can be seen in many of the multi-stemmed trees that were
cut similarly around 100 years ago.
Now that we
are re-cutting the areas, we have found a very large number of seedling trees
enjoying their new found light - these will be the mature trees for the future.
As well as the young trees, the effect of the management work is that we now
have areas of varying growth which attracts more diversity of wildlife. Plants
that have been lying dormant for many years burst into life when the newly
created open areas allow sunlight to pour in. As well as the magnificent spring
bluebell display, the second year after cutting, pink campion flourishes in
spectacular form.
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