New Year Update 

The New Year has seen plenty of activity in the Wood. Volunteers have been hard at work replacing fencing in various locations. 

Some people ask why some parts of the Wood are fenced off. 

It is necessary to restrict access to selected areas in order to protect ground layer plants from trampling and compaction. It is useful to have a look at the adjacent Dulwich Wood where there is no such protection of vulnerable areas. In much of that wood, there is little or no ground cover, with the trees emerging from bare earth. 

Woodland shouldn't be like that, and a healthy ecosystem should have vertical layers in it, which support different species of birds and insects. Some butterflies, for example, forage in the upper branches of trees, whilst many more need healthy ground vegetation. Without that ground cover, they will not colonise the wood. The same goes for other insects and small mammals like wood mice. 

Furthermore, ground compactions will have a detrimental effect on the trees. Soil which has been compacted heavily will be poor in nutrients, water and oxygen and this will slow tree growth and make them more vulnerable to disease and fungal attack. 

Although dog owners are asked to keep their dogs on leads during the bird breeding season (end of March to the end of September), sadly, many do not. Dogs exploring the undergrowth can kill young birds or scare off the parents, leaving their nestlings to die from starvation and exposure. Fencing areas, therefore, gives ground nesting birds like robins a better chance to raise broods successfully. 

For this reason alone, it is vital that dogs owners co-operate with the request to observe the restrictions during the bird breeding months.

During the last couple of weeks, there has been welcome progress of the repairs to Cox's Walk Footbridge. Planning permission has been granted and the machinery is being moved on site. An access ramp is being installed and hopefully, the repairs will begin imminently. 

It can't come soon enough! The cutting by the bridge has been damaged severely by people who refused to follow the diversion and have been taking a short cut down the slopes on each side of the bridge. These slopes have been turned into mud slides and are now completely devoid of vegetation. The roots of trees are now exposed, including those of the two oaks that sparked the campaign in the first place. Continued trampling could cause greater vulnerability to disease and die-back.  Sadly attempts to encourage people to use the diversion failed as fences were broken down repeatedly. 

Once the repairs have been completed, the managers of the Wood and the volunteers will be able to work to repair the damage done by three years of trampling.

Any views expressed in this blog are those of the author and not necessarily those of the London wildlife Trust.