Irish Hill Copse is a 16 hectare (39.52 acre) 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...

 in the civil parish

Civil 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 Hamstead Marshall

Hamstead Marshall

Hamstead Marshall is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. Although the village name is spelt Hamstead Marshall, the alternative Hampstead Marshall was quite commonly used in the past, and remains the official name of the civil parish...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, notified in 1984.

Located at , this site of coppiced 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...

 includes an extensive area of calcareous ash/wych elm coppice on the hill sides, merging into wet ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

/maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

 and acid oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

/ash/hazel

Hazel

The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...

 woodland with aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

, on the higher parts of the site. The lower slopes are dominated by 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...

 (Mercurialis perennis), with abundant Herb Paris

Paris quadrifolia

Paris quadrifolia is a species of the genus Paris in the family Melanthiaceae, although authorities formerly regarded it as part of the Liliaceae family. It is related to Trillium, with which it can be confused...

 (Paris quadrifolia), Toothwort

Toothwort

Toothwort is a small genus of five to seven species of flowering plants, native to temperate Europe and Asia. They are parasitic plants on the roots of other plants, and are completely lacking chlorophyll. They are classified in the family Orobanchaceae. In addition, Cardamine concatenata is also...

 (Lathraea squamaria), Solomon's seal

Polygonatum

Polygonatum , King Solomon's-seal or Solomon's Seal, is a genus of about 50 species of flowering plants. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae...

 (Polygonatum multiflorum), Twayblade 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...

s (Listera ovata) and Orchis mascula and, locally, Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus).