Sulehay Nature Reserve Website - sulehay forest ecology

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"Sulehay Volunteer Group" .

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	Sulehay Nature Reserve

The Sulehay Forest Ecosystem

The forest ecosystem is described under individual headings. Click on the following links to jump to the section of interest.

Physical Habitats & communities Flora Fauna Past land usage

Physical

The forest (together with East Field) covers an area of 36 hectares (90 acres).

The soil of the forest is primarily alkaline in nature through the influence of the Jurassic limestone that underlies the site. More recent ice age deposits comprise a mixture of boulder clay and sand, giving a variety of soil types that have not yet been classified in detail. The forest is characterised by a contrasting flora with bracken usually identifying the more acidic sandy areas. In addition, there are seepages of water where the sandy lenses meet the impermeable clay, notably on the north/south ride, giving its local name of ‘mucky ride’. The wetter areas support extensive populations of Wood anemone (Anemone nemoralis), Bluebells (Endymion non-scriptus) and ramsons (Allium ursinum). The sand is currently being quarried commercially on the southern side of the forest but plans to quarry the forest itself for stone and sand were resisted in the 1970’s.

Habitats and Communities

The forest is a prime example of Fraxinus excelsior-Acer campestre-Mercurialis perennis woodland, ie a mixture of ash and field maple with dog’s mercury dominating the woodland floor. This is category W8 under the National Vegetation Classification scheme. Timber trees have been removed over the years up to at least the 1960s and no large timber stands remain, though there are still some very ancient coppice stools. The under storey is predominately derelict hazel coppice with several stands of small leaved lime (Tilia cordata) in the south west corner. The south-eastern edge of the wood has an area with extensive sycamore invasion, possibly stemming from planting of sycamore as a ride-edge avenue tree. The ground flora in this area is indicative of the Allium ursinum (ramsons or wild garlic) W8 sub-community, which is associated with sycamore in some instances, and retains water into early summer. The pungent smell of wild garlic greets you as you approach this zone in springtime, but dies down in mid summer.

The damper eastern half of the wood has extensive areas of the Anemone nemorosa (wood anemone) sub-community, making a spectacular show in springtime as you enter the forest from the Wansford end of the main ride. Sand lenses also occur at intervals throughout the wood, although predominately in the southern half of the forest. As well as providing for a very varied ground flora, these lenses provide easy digging for badgers (Meles meles), and there is one large sett, and a second smaller sett, in the southern half of the wood. Some planting of non-native species, such as snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) has taken place, which is thought to be associated with the use of the forest by servicemen during the second world war, and afterwards by local people who made their homes in the forest and even set up a school in the main cross-rides area. The remains of buildings erected for this purpose can still be found, but the ground flora appears to show no significant difference from that in surrounding areas.

North of the main ride at its central point there is an area which previously had a large wire netting pheasant release pen, surrounded by an electric fence. Both within the enclosure, and along the electric fence line, the ground flora is impoverished, and these changes are the focus of current research by the wardens.

Flora

The woodland is typical of the Ancient Woodland W8 communities of this part of Northamptonshire. There are however, a number of species recorded which are uncommon in the vice-county. These include toothwort (Lathraea squamaria), found under hazel on the path edge on the south eastern section of the wood, and narrow buckler-fern (Dryopteris carthusiana). Click here to see plant, or here to see underside of fertile pinna.
Sheila Wells has recently recorded the ascomycete (Boudiera areolata) on mud off the central ride. A specimen is now lodged at the herbarium at Kew. There are only two previous records for this species, neither in this area. A plant list for the forest and quarry combined is given in the 'Wildlife Reports' section of this web site.

Fauna

There is still much to be discovered about the fauna of the forest. Around 400 species of invertebrate have been recorded to date, including over 100 rare, scarce and local species, one of which is the Red Data Book false darkling beetle Osphya bipunctata. In about 1996, twenty dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) boxes were put up in the eastern section of the wood, and in 2002, a further 36 were installed alongside the main ride. These are checked regularly for dormouse usage, but no evidence has been found to-date, though blue tits (Parus caerulus), wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) and various moths find these to be desirable homes. Butterfly and dragonfly transects, moth trapping and bird surveys are now being carried out –results of these surveys can be found on the ‘wildlife reports’ page. Large mammals include muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) and fallow deer (Dama dama) and foxes (Vulpes vulpes), as well as the badgers mentioned above.

Past land usage

The forest appears to have been coppiced until probably before the second world war. There are now few timber trees remaining, and it is said locally that the majority of the timber was felled and removed during the First World War, and between the 1950s and 1960s. The use of the forest by the armed services during the second world war is detailed on the ‘Reserve History’ page. The forest is now subject to a Tree Preservation Order, which was issued by East Northamptonshire County Council. The forest has long been known as a site of high nature conservation interest. It was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1973, and was re-designated under the 1981 Act in 1983. More recently the site was subject to a Site Management Statement prepared as an agreement between English Nature and the previous owners.

Despite the site being designated a SSSI, little or no management specifically aimed at nature conservation appears to have taken place in recent years, and the area was used largely for shooting, with the public being confined to the right of way through the forest. Walkers, cyclist and horse riders have been the main users in the recent past, with some illegal attempts at entering the site with motor cycles especially at the quarry end.

The whole site is open to members of the public, but they are asked to respect the role of the forest as a nature reserve, keep to the official footpaths, and obey the country code. If the reserve is to recover from past neglect, and species encouraged to return to the forest, it is important that visitors respect the needs of the wildlife, and that their dogs are kept under strict control and not allowed to roam through the forest.

This page checked/updated: 23 Feb 2005.