Highnam Wood is a nature reserve located in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

 and established by the RSPB to protect bird species in the region. A two-kilometre nature trail passes through the park, giving tourists a view of Britain's rarest breeding 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....

 species, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is assigned to the genus Dendrocopos ....

. Marsh Tit, Nightingale, Song Thrush, and Spotted Flycatchers also frequent the park.

Forest Management

The RSPB periodically removes non-native species from the park to allow native species to grow and flourish. The association also thins out standard trees, while maintaining scrub and coppice species as habitats for Nightingales. Regularly, the RSPB rotavates the land to provide disturbed ground for Upright Spurge. They eventually hope to have 2,000 of the rare flowers living in the park. 20 hectares of the forest are left with minimal intervention by the society. Dead and decaying timber are also left untouched on the forest floor for insects.

External links

• RSPB web site
• Highnam Wood on the VisitWoods website