As many of you will be aware, there has been a lot of work going on in Oakley Wood of late to widen some of the rides—the network of wide paths in the wood. Ride management is an important part of the management plan, intended to increase the diversity of habitats in the wood and increase its value to wildlife. Unfortunately, the extremely wet winter we’ve had has meant that this valuable work has resulted in a lot of damage to the ground.

Representatives from the Friends of Oakley Wood, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and Warwick District Council met at the end of last week to look at the damage and agree a plan of work to address this. Once all the timber has been moved off the site an excavator will be used to “push in” and level the rutting in the areas marked in orange on the plan. It was felt that in the blue area getting an excavator in would cause more damage than it rectified. This may be rectified during volunteer work days later in the year.

The contractors have been asked to push brash back into the woodland as they go, particularly along the ride which goes through the camp (marked in pink). The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust will hold one or two volunteer days in April/May to move the brash back from the pond, travelling east to uncover the wood anemone bank.  Dates for these days will be announced later.