Note: photos of Killingan Coppice are on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/77142690@N00/sets/72157617252549151/

 

In January 2009 work started on coppicing the overstood hornbeam and other trees in Killingan Wood in Sedlescombe (East Sussex, UK) for the first time, perhaps, since the 1940s.  This was done with encouragement from the Rother Woods Project funded by Butterfly Conservation and others.  The owner of the wood did not, however, receive grant payment for the work.

 

The aim, as a notice by the footpath indicated, was to coppice for the benefit of wildlife, the theory being that the arrival of sunshine at ground level will encourage flowers to bloom more and reproduce better and that populations of insects, particularly butterflies will increase.  In the past coppices were a key habitat for many so-called woodland butterflies (probably woodland edge species in reality) and returning them to rotation opens up the possibility that they will be re-colonised by some of the species Sussex has lost or which are in steep decline.  In particular the pearl-bordered fritillary, but much else besides.

 

During spring the ground between the stools looked parched and even started to crack (being Wadhurst Clay), but later after a wet July vegetation cover was rapidly increasing.  One notable feature was that thousands of hornbeam seeds germinated, forming a closed canopy sward in many places and it will be interesting to see how many survive and for how long.  Most of the cut stools seemed to sprout again quite readily, though some appear to have died and, so far, I have not been able to detect any browsing by deer although they are common in the neighbourhood.

 

One of the most noticeable plants was prickly sow thistle which gre to a metre or more in height very quickly and then flowered and set seed well.  Not normally regarded as a woodland species, this is clearly a successful opportunist.  Several invasive aliens were also noted: Wilson's honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida), cherry-laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) and monbretia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora).

 

25 September 2009. The coppice is rapidly moving in to autumn mode.  Many of the new sprouts from the cut stools have been grazed of by rabbits and/or deer and I expect this will get worse as winter comes in.  Brambles, like thorny trip wires are spreading rapidly in some places growing flat over the ground like a blanket.  By this time next year walking through the area will probably be difficult.

 

In other places there is still much bare ground and, despite recent rains, no sign of any seedlings or woodland fungi.  The hornbeam and other tree species seed that germinated in spring all seems to be doing well though.  On some of the bonfire sites the bonfire moss, Funaria hygrometrica, is growing thickly and has produced many bright orange sporophytes.