Nature
Gravelly Way Plantation is a former silver birch and larch plantation, which is being thinned and replanted with native species.
Elephant Tree – Two beech trees have grown together to form the shape of an elephant’s trunk. It can be seen at what3words location: prospers.ambitions.circling.
Trees
Common Wood is a semi-natural Ancient Woodland. This means it has been woodland for over 400 years but has been managed by man for most, if not all that time. The mainly beech woodland we see today was mostly planted by the Penn Estate after the 1855 Inclosure, with some Douglas Fir avenues. Over the years, much of the beech has been felled either by clear-felling whole areas or by selective felling to preserve a continuous canopy. This, combined with a rich variety of soil types, has resulted in an interesting mix of flora within the wood.
There are no less than 14 of the nationally recognised “vegetation classifications” within the wood, from Beech and Bramble, to Gorse and Bramble scrub, to Oak with Silver Birch, to Yew. This makes for excellent biodiversity. In 2003, 150 plant and tree types, 85 fungi (including the first UK report of Russula lepidicolor) and 40 bird species were recorded. Less common mammals include badgers, wood mice, muntjac and occasional roe deer.
Flora & Fauna
Common Wood contains more than 330 species of flora and fauna, their diversity governed by the acidity or lime content of the soil in the zones where they are found. Though largely beechwood, there are stands of mature oak, an aspen grove, an “avenue” of Douglas Firs, and Scots pines. Certain areas are more akin to open heath, with gorse and bracken, while others are colonised by larch or silver birch or contain large tracts of cherry, laurel and holly.
Bramblings and siskins may be detected in winter, feeding with resident finches among the conifers; in spring, the drumming of the great spotted woodpecker, calling nuthatches or the song of the robin may be heard; in summer, migrant willow-warbler, chiffchaff and blackcap sing from the surrounding scrub. Numerous species of butterfly and moth have been recorded in Common Wood, such as the Brimstone and Red Admiral butterfly, and the impressive Elephant hawk-moth. Mammals include Foxes, Badgers, Grey Gquirrels, Glis-Glis and Muntjac. Hazel Dormice have also been recorded.
In spring, carpets of bluebells and Wood Sorrel fill the air with fragrance, while Fungi such as Fly Agaric are some of the principal delights of the woodland floor in autumn. Other flora is more modest: heath bedstraw being an example.
In 2024 a rare woodland orchid Violet Helleborine was found in the wood.
Next: Management