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SOUTH EAST WOODLANDS PROJECT
Woodland butterflies and moths are among the most threatened groups of insects in the UK, and for many species their declines have been fastest in the South East.
The South East is the most heavily wooded area of the country and contains the greatest amount of Ancient Woodland (land continuously wooded since 1600’s). Many of these woods are neglected or under-managed because of changing management practices, lack of information and the economics of woodland management.
To tackle these problems, Butterfly Conservation is launching its biggest conservation project so far “The South East Woodlands Project”, with support from The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Tubney Charitable Trust and many other funders.
This ambitious project, developed with the Forestry Commission and other partners, including Kent Downs AONB, will use threatened butterflies and moths as indicator species to promote sustainably managed woodlands rich in biodiversity, aiming to reinvigorate woodland management and halt the decline of some of our rarest species.
The Denge Woods Project is one of three landscape-scale demonstration projects developed in the South East, the other project areas are Rother Woods, East Sussex and Tytherley Woods on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border. These areas will be used to promote best practice woodland management for wildlife across the region.
South East Map - click here to see map
THE DENGE WOODS PROJECT AREA
Woodlands (>2ha) covers around 17% of the Kent Downs AONB. Of this, some 80% is recorded as ancient woodland*.
The Denge Woods Project Area is situated within the Kent Downs AONB, along the chalk ridge of the North Downs between Ashford and Canterbury and contains over 2000 hectares of Ancient Woodland.
Denge Map - click here to see map
The Denge Woods project area retains many important features for biodiversity as well as areas of woodland and chalk downland, there are species-rich hedgerows and flowery field margins permeating the landscape and offering potential to reconnect and restore some of the fragmented smaller woods.
The largest single woodland block, in the north west of the project area, consists of Forest Enterprise landholdings at Denge Wood as well as a Woodland Trust reserve at Denge & Pennypot Woods and adjoining private woods. This complex contains a mix of conifer plantations, sweet chestnut coppice and native broadleaf woodland, as well as more open woodland edge areas in the east which support a nationally important population of Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. Open grassland and scrub habitats within the woodland matrix support sun-loving butterflies such as Dingy and Grizzled Skippers, while the more mature woodland holds a suite of UK BAP priority moths.
In the east of the project area an extensive complex of woodland including Whitehill Wood, Gorsley Wood, Lynsore Bottom and Covert Wood, which supported Pearl-bordered Fritillary until very recently, has much potential for habitat restoration. Numerous small privately owned woods link the larger complexes and in many areas intervening grassland habitat is of high quality and supports a range of species including the UK BAP species Adonis Blue and Black-veined Moth.
THE PROJECT
Local woodland specialist butterflies and moths will be used as flagship species to illustrate the need for sustainable management in safeguarding woodland habitats and preventing further local species’ extinctions, and will provide the basis on which the project area will be improved for other woodland wildlife. These flagship species include;
Butterflies:
Moths:
The decline in traditional woodland management in the 20 th century has had detrimental effects on woodland biodiversity; those experiencing the most serious declines are specialist species reliant on coppice, woodland clearings and rides.
Coppice rotation and ride management are essential for maintaining the landscape and conserving woodland diversity.
The cyclical cutting of coppice blocks (known as cants) across as a woodland creates a mosaic of different environmental conditions, allowing light to reach the woodland floor in the cant and providing opportunities for early successional species to colonise before the coppice gradually matures and shades out the area, once more creating unsuitable conditions for these early successional species.
Rides and woodland clearings provide more permanent light environments for sun-loving species, and the former provide corridors for specie’s movements across neighbouring areas.
The project aims to tackle declines in woodland biodiversity by supporting active woodland management through a combination of:
- funded management work in key target areas
- advice and grant support for woodland owners
- training for woodland managers
- public engagement; events and recruitment /training of volunteers
- building links for woodland product markets
The project will improve conditions for biodiversity in the area and provide essential guidance on how biodiversity can thrive alongside sustainable woodland production.
In addition, the principles applied within demonstration areas will also be promoted more widely across the region through workshops involving project partners at key sites throughout the south east.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Over the next few months we will be making contact with local landowners, organisations and communities in the project areas, and from spring 2008 we will be holding free training workshops, guided walks and other public events, as well as providing free advice and resources to woodland managers.
Each demonstration area has been appointed a project officer for the project’s duration. Fran Thompson, Denge Woods Project Officer, is being hosted by the Kent Downs AONB office in East Brabourne.
If you are a member of the public keen to get involved, a landowner with woodland in the project area, or have a general query about the project, please call Fran on 01303 815171.
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