Greensand Trust secures a further plot in King's Wood

The Greensand Trust is delighted to announce it has secured an additional one-acre plot of important ancient woodland at King’s Wood, Heath and Reach.

Thanks to funding from The Peter Smith Charitable Trust for Nature, adding a further section of this fragmented site to our portfolio of green spaces which will enable it to be better managed for its conservation. As a result, the Trust now owns around 20 acres of the woodland (around 7% of the total)
and with help from our supporters, we hope to add to this and bring more of this special site
under our management.

Why is King’s Wood so special?
King’s Wood is part of the largest area of ancient woodland in Bedfordshire. It has almost
certainly been woodland since the original wildwood covered the country after the last Ice
Age and has never been cleared for agriculture.
The Wood continues to support a range of important and rare species which thrive on its
unusual mixture of sand and heavy clay soils.

Features include:

A large amount of small-leaved lime, a rare tree that was believed to be a common
species in the wildwood, as well as both the sessile and pedunculate oak
A large population of lily-of-the-valley at one of its few sites in the county with other
rare plants, including bilberry, wood vetch and eared willow
Beautiful woodland butterflies including silver washed fritillary, white admiral and
purple hairstreak
Adder in the sandy areas of the wood and on the neighbouring heathland; and great crested newts in many of the ponds
Up to seven bat species, including the nationally rare barbastelle bat
Flower rich rides supporting uncommon wildflowers such as betony, Devil’s-bit
scabious and sneezewort, plus tranquil ponds

King’s Wood through the ages
In the early medieval period King’s Wood was part of the Royal manorial estate of Leighton, from which it gets its name. The entire wood is surrounded by a prominent medieval woodbank of considerable
archaeological interest. The woodbank, which can still clearly be seen today, continues to mark
ownership as it identifies the county boundary between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The wood has historically been managed by a system of coppice or coppice-with-standards.
This periodic cutting of trees and shrubs provided a continual supply of firewood and small
timber for various uses, while the standards were retained as timber trees. This traditional
form of woodland management is highly effective in creating a rich and varied habitat for
different species to thrive in.

King’s Wood Today
In the 1960s a large area of the wood was divided into small plots and sold off to various owners. Although at the time this saved the wood from large-scale conifer planting, the fragmented ownership has made current management and protection of the wood difficult. To date, despite the whole wood being designated as part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), only half of the wood benefits from the protection of the extended Kings Wood and Rushmere National Nature Reserve (NNR) status as the rest remains in private ownership. The areas within the NNR benefit from conservation management under a Management Plan which includes reinstating areas of coppice in parts of the wood to encourage woodland plants and insects that require periodic open areas; the opening of rides to provide sunlit corridors through the wood and identifies key areas to be left to develop naturally to provide shady, humid conditions with mature trees containing valuable deadwood habitat.

Our involvement
The Greensand Trust has over the past 25 years, working closely with The Wildlife Trust, Central Bedfordshire Council and Natural England, attempted to secure the remaining private plots to add them to the area of the National Nature Reserve and prevent them being sold on the open market. This is done to ensure that large areas of King’s Wood are preserved and brought into careful management in line with the NNR Management Plan and protected in perpetuity for the benefit of wildlife, heritage and as an exceptional open space for the benefit of current and future generations.

King’s Wood Nature Reserve Appeal
You can support this important work by donating to our King’s Wood Appeal which, through your donations, hopes to secure, protect and manage this nationally important woodland and its wildlife. We are also appealing to any King’s Wood plot owners, who may still hold a title in the land, to contact us and/or consider donating the land to this appeal.

For more local news visit Leighton Buzzard News