Hayley Wood
Encyclopedia
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, is managed as a nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and the City of Peterborough in England....
. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
for its notable plant life.
History
A large wood in this area of the parish was mentioned in the 1068 Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, but by 1251 it had been split into two: Hayley Wood (40 acres) and Littlehound Wood (32 acres). Agriculture in the area declined after 1350 and the wooded area expanded; by 1650, Hayley Wood covered 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) and Littlehound 40. Around 1655, Littlehound was 'new stubbed' and disappeared under cultivation, although its outline can still be seen in the form of field boundaries. Hayley Wood was confiscated from the Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
by Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in 1579 and became privately owned.
The Varsity Line
Varsity Line
The Varsity Line is an informal name for the railway route that formerly linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated successively by the London and North Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and British Railways...
- a railway between Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
- ran along the wood's northern edge between 1863-1969. Now disused, its bed has created different habitats and brought plant species. Hayley Wood was purchased in 1962 by what was then the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Naturalists' Trust (now the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and the City of Peterborough in England....
).
Geography
Hayley Wood lies in the south-east corner of the civil parishCivil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
of Little Gransden
Little Gransden
Little Gransden is 11 miles from the county town of Cambridgeshire, 10 miles south-east of Huntingdon and 47 miles north of London. The village stands on the B1046 road between Abbotsley, to the west, and Longstowe, to the east. A minor road runs south-west to Gamlingay...
in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, 10 miles (17 km) south-west of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and 45 miles (73 km) north of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The clay soil is heavy, leading to waterlogged conditions on the flat hilltop.
Flora and fauna
The structure of Hayley Wood is coppice-with-standards of Field Maple, Ash, HazelCorylus avellana
Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...
and Hawthorn
Crataegus
Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...
species, with a canopy of Pendunculate Oak and small areas of Small-leaved Elm. Most of the oak trees date from between 1780–1840, older than most woodland oaks.
The soil favours Oxlip
Primula elatior
Primula elatior, the oxlip , is a flowering plant in the genus Primula, found in nutrient- and calcium-rich damp woods and meadows throughout Europe with northern bordes in Denmark and southern parts of Sweden, eastwards to Altai Mountains and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia...
and Meadowsweet - the wood is described as 'one of the largest Oxlip
Primula elatior
Primula elatior, the oxlip , is a flowering plant in the genus Primula, found in nutrient- and calcium-rich damp woods and meadows throughout Europe with northern bordes in Denmark and southern parts of Sweden, eastwards to Altai Mountains and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia...
woods on the chalky Boulder Clay
Boulder clay
Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...
in Britain'. Bluebell and Yellow Archangel grow in drier parts. Plants typical of ancient woodland
Ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally...
, including Wood Anemone
Wood Anemone
Wood anemone is a common name for three closely related species of woodland anemone.In Europe: Anemone nemorosaIn North America: Anemone quinquefoliaThe Yellow wood anemone is Anemone ranunculoides....
, Dog's Mercury
Dog's Mercury
Mercurialis perennis, commonly known as dog's mercury, is a woodland plant found in much of Europe, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland. A member of the spurge family , it is a herbaceous, downy perennial with erect stems bearing simple, serrate leaves. The dioecious inflorescences...
and Early Purple Orchid
Early Purple Orchid
Orchis mascula, the Early Purple Orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus Orchis.-Etymology:The specific name is derived from the Latin "masculus", meaning "male" or "virile" and it should refer to the robust aspect of this species or to the shape of the tubers, similar to a pair of...
, grow; Bird's-nest Orchid and Pale Sedge can also be found. The wood's plant life is the reason for its designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
; it was included in Derek Ratcliffe
Derek Ratcliffe
Derek Almey Ratcliffe was one of the most significant British nature conservationists of the 20th century. He was Chief Scientist for the Nature Conservancy Council at the Monks Wood Experimental Station, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, retiring in 1989...
's A Nature Conservation Review
A Nature Conservation Review
A Nature Conservation Review is a 2-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1977. It set out to identify the most important places for nature conservation in Great Britain...
, a survey of the country's most important wildlife sites.
Management
There are many ancient coppice stools in the wood; coppicingCoppicing
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...
was practiced from at least the 13th Century until the early 20th Century, with a revival from 1964. Traditional management practices are still used in the woodland, including coppicing of an acre of Hazel
Corylus avellana
Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...
per year, and hedgelaying to encourage growth and retain structure. Intervention is kept to a minimum so that the wood can return to its original state and dead wood is left as it is an excellent habitat for liverworts
Marchantiophyta
The Marchantiophyta are a division of bryophyte plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like other bryophytes, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information....
and woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s.
The rides and glades are mown to keep nutrient levels down. Most of the wood is surrounded by a fence, erected in 1972, to exclude deer, which has had the effect of reversing the decline in Hayley Wood's famous Oxlip
Primula elatior
Primula elatior, the oxlip , is a flowering plant in the genus Primula, found in nutrient- and calcium-rich damp woods and meadows throughout Europe with northern bordes in Denmark and southern parts of Sweden, eastwards to Altai Mountains and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia...
population.