Wood Pastures and Parklands

Importance for wildlife

Supports a wide range of plants, invertebrates, birds and mammals, especially hole-nesting birds such as Woodpeckers, Spotted Flycatcher, Tit species and Tree Sparrow. Bats roost and breed in crevices and hollows and feed across the habitat e.g. Barbastelle bats - particularly in veteran trees, Brown Long-eared Bat, Serotine, Leisler’s and Noctule. Saproxylic invertebrates are often associated with particular forms of wood decay. Other invertebrates use specialist habitat niches such as sap runs, water-filled holes, red rot tree hollows and sheltered hollows.

Important associated species

Birds
Dunnock, Tree Sparrow, Starling, Cuckoo, Hawfinch, Bullfinch, Marsh Tit, Spotted Flycatcher, Turtle Dove, Linnet, Barn Owl*

Mammals
Barbastelle, Brandt's Bat*, Brown Long-eared Bat, Daubenton's Bat*, Leisler's Bat*, Lesser Horseshoe Bat, Nathusius' Pipistrelle*, Natterer's Bat*, Whiskered Bat*, Common Pipistrelle*, Soprano Pipistrelle, Noctule, Serotine

Beetles
Stag Beetle

Flies
Golden Hoverfly

Moths
Goat Moth, Knot Grass**, Brown-spot Pinion**, Large Nutmeg**, Dusky Brocade**, Oak Lutestring**, September Thorn**, August Thorn**, Dusky Lemon Sallow**

Fungi
Bearded Tooth, Coral Tooth, Orange Chanterelle, Oak Polypore

Lichens
Anaptychia ciliaris subsp. ciliaris, Bacidia incompta (mainly on elm), Orange-fruited Elm Lichen, Pyrenula nitida

*Suffolk Priority species
**Priority – Research Only. Common and widespread, but rapidly declining

Factors affecting habitat in Suffolk

• Inappropriate management leading to loss of structure and age diversity i.e. over-tidiness and the removal of deadwood and intensive grazing which can damage trees.
• The use of drugs to treat cattle which has led to a decline in the invertebrates associated with dung.
• Agricultural practices such as ploughing too close to trees and damaging roots, destruction or ‘improvement’ of the grassland/heathland component including drainage, fertilisers and fungicides.
• Diseases such as Acute Oak Decline, Ash Dieback and Phytophthora infections.
• Reduction in plant nectar shrubs, such as Hawthorn, which provide food for emerging insects.
• Fragmentation of habitat and isolation from similar sites limits the movement of species.
• Neighbouring intensive agriculture.

Habitat management advice

• Create age diversity by enrichment planting using locally sourced trees.
• Avoid over-tidying of parkland in order to maintain a variety of habitats such as standing and lying deadwood, sap runs, rot holes, red rot tree hollows (these may be living or dead), scrub and leaf litter cover. This will also encourage the growth of fungi to provide breeding habitat for many species of flies and beetle.
• Maintain a suitable grazing regime to ensure invasive scrub is kept down, a supply of dung is present to support specialist invertebrates, but flowering plants/shrubs are retained.
• Maintain open areas as sunny sheltered sites for flowering plants. These produce nectar used by invertebrates.
• Manage waterways/ponds to ensure deadwood is left in the water.
• Monitor tree decline and report suspected cases of Acute Oak Decline and records of the beetle Agrilus bigattatus.
• The felling of wood pasture or parkland trees may need approval from the Forestry Commission.

Staverton Park and the Thicks, Wantisden

Special Area of Conservation (SAC) 

The site was once a medieval deer park. The ancient oaks have rich invertebrate and epiphytic lichen assemblages, including rare and Atlantic species, such as Haemotomma elatinum, Lecidea cinnabarina, Thelotrema lepadinum, Graphis elegans and Stenocybe septata.

Vision for Suffolk

1. Improve knowledge of extent and quality of wood pasture and parkland.
2. Maintain the existing extent of wood pasture and parkland to ensure no net loss.
3. Re-create wood pasture and parkland as opportunities arise.
4. Encourage the restoration and improvement of degraded wood pasture and parkland.

Where to find further information

• Buglife – advice on managing BAP habitats
• Buglife – Notable invertebrates (pdf)
• JNCC – Habitat Description (pdf)
• MAGIC website – interactive mapping information including designations
• Making Space for Nature, a Review of England’s Wildlife Sites and Ecological Network 16 Sep 2010. Chaired by Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS. Defra website (pdf)
• Natural Environment White Paper June 2011 – The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature (pdf)
• Suffolk Wildlife Trust – Habitats Explorer

* all the links marked (pdf) have been gathered into an Issuu stack

Images: 

• Staverton Park and the Thicks, Wantisden by Gary Battell
• Knot Grass Caterpillar by Paul Kitchener (Flickr)
• Barn Owl by Neil Rolph (Flickr)
• Coral Tooth by Arthur Rivett (Flickr)