Gamlingay Wood
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A wonderful ancient woodland and part of a project to create a South Cambridgeshire forest |
This site has been woodland for at least a thousand years, and the character and diversity of wonderful wildlife here reflects it’s rich history. It has always been important to the local community and a valuable source of building materials and firewood. Traditional coppicing still goes on supplying thatching materials, stakes for hedge laying and even beanpoles. There is also evidence of more modern exploitation for timber. Many conifers were planted after the last world war and the Wildlife Trust is gradually removing them.
No matter when you visit there are joys to discover from the rich perfume and icy hue of the bluebells, to the russets and umbers of the autumn leaves, hiding the varied colours of fungi.
A stroll in summer along the flowered paths will cast up clouds of butterflies, and the vanilla scent of sweet vernal-grass fills the air on a still evening. As the dusk gathers bats hawk along rides taking advantage of the abundance of moths.
The wood resounds throughout the year with the song and activity of birds – the melodic trilling of warblers, the tapping of woodpeckers and the harsh screech of buzzards in the remaining pines. If you are lucky you may even hear the distinctive squeak and grunt of a roding woodcock.
Alongside Gamlingay Wood in an area now called Sugley ‘Wood’. This former arable land was purchased by the Wildlife Trust in 2002. Now a grassy expanse studded by young trees, bought there by birds and wind, it will change over time to become a richer wildlife haven as it develops into forest.
Sugley Wood is already home to many small mammals, including harvest mice, and during the spring and summer is alive with farmland birds such as yellowhammer and skylark. Woodland flowers have begun to spring up and barn owls hunt silently in the evenings. Take a moment to step out of the ancient wood and explore the future.
Birds: Tits and thrushes Mammals: Muntjac deer |
Plants: Bluebell, oxlip, yellow archangel, herb-paris, bugle, hairy woodrush, early-purple orchid Birds: Woodcock, willow warbler, garden warbler, blackcap |
Plants: Common-spotted orchid, nettle-leaved bellflower, betony, tormentil, purple-loosestrife Insects: Purple hairstreak and speckled wood butterflies, dragonflies Birds: Barn owl, buzzard, kestrel |
Fungi: Horn of plenty, tryad's saddle, sulpher tuft Plants: Wild service-tree |