which provide prey for birds like tawny owls. tawny like birds for prey provide which

as wood mice and field voles voles field and mice wood as

to smaller animals such such animals smaller to

Clustered bellflower Clustered Fieldfare The wood is also home home also is wood The

with badgers and foxes. foxes. and badgers with

live in the wood along along wood the in live

Muntjac and fallow deer deer fallow and Muntjac

BCN). Trust Wildlife the (now Trust Naturalists’

by the recently formed and Isle of Ely Ely of Isle and Cambridgeshire formed recently the by

hedgerows. hedgerows.

and twayblade. and In 1962 it was the first nature reserve to be purchased purchased be to reserve nature first the was it 1962 In

wood and surrounding surrounding and wood

common spotted, greater butterfly butterfly greater spotted, common national importance as a boulder clay woodland. woodland. clay boulder a as importance national

profusion of berries in the the in berries of profusion

orchid: bird’s nest, early purple, purple, early nest, bird’s orchid: Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1955 in recognition of its its of recognition in 1955 in (SSSI) Interest Scientific

be seen feeding on the the on feeding seen be

bit scabious. There are five species of of species five are There scabious. bit Hayley Wood was designated as a Site of Special Special of Site a as designated was Wood Hayley

redwing and fieldfare can can fieldfare and redwing

the delicate mauve flowers of devils devils of flowers mauve delicate the

In winter large flocks of of flocks large winter In

white heads of meadowsweet and and meadowsweet of heads white villagers.

spotted flycatcher. flycatcher. spotted

betony and purple loosestrife, frothy frothy loosestrife, purple and betony timber and building materials for the Bishop and local local and Bishop the for materials building and timber

of a treecreeper or a a or treecreeper a of

are scattered with purple clumps of of clumps purple with scattered are prehistoric times and was once a source of firewood, firewood, of source a once was and times prehistoric

and chiffchaffs. If you are lucky you may catch a glimpse glimpse a catch may you lucky are you If chiffchaffs. and

celandine. In summer the open rides rides open the summer In celandine. the . This area has been wooded since since wooded been has area This woodland. ancient the

wood. Look and listen out for woodpeckers, nuthatches nuthatches woodpeckers, for out listen and Look wood.

wood anemone and yellow lesser lesser yellow and anemone wood You then cross a bank and ditch which marks the edge of of edge the marks which ditch and bank a cross then You

In summer up to 40 species of bird can be found in the the in found be can bird of species 40 to up summer In

of bluebell, low growing white-flowered white-flowered growing low bluebell, of

woodland sites. The wood also has spectacular displays displays spectacular has also wood The sites. woodland developed from an abandoned field since the early 1900s. 1900s. early the since field abandoned an from developed

and gatekeeper. gatekeeper. and

to East Anglia and prefers poorly drained ancient ancient drained poorly prefers and Anglia East to that is younger than the rest of the wood having having wood the of rest the than younger is that

white, comma, speckled wood, peacock, common blue blue common peacock, wood, speckled comma, white,

each spring. This delicate pale yellow flower is confined confined is flower yellow pale delicate This spring. each , a small area of woodland woodland of area small a , reach you Next The Triangle The

Butterflies that are easier to spot include green-veined green-veined include spot to easier are that Butterflies

Hayley is well known for its fantastic display of oxlips oxlips of display fantastic its for known well is Hayley

on the underside of the wings. wings. the of underside the on

Speckled wood Speckled this an important area for butterflies and insects. and butterflies for area important an this the beautiful streaks of silver found found silver of streaks beautiful the

Flora colonised by a variety of wildflowers and grasses making making grasses and wildflowers of variety a by colonised

the wood. It gets its name from from name its gets It wood. the

Built in 1863 and abandoned in 1969, it has been been has it 1969, in abandoned and 1863 in Built

Cambridgeshire, was recorded in in recorded was Cambridgeshire,

. . to former the is lane railway line railway

has recently recolonised recolonised recently has

provide a rich habitat for many birds. At the end of the the of end the At birds. many for habitat rich a provide

fritillary, a large butterfly that that butterfly large a fritillary,

Oxlip

b contains a large variety of trees and shrubs which which shrubs and trees of variety large a contains

brickworks but are now recovering. now are but brickworks In 2010, the silver-washed silver-washed the 2010, In

. The hedgerow on the left is 800 years old and and old years 800 is left the on hedgerow The . Lane

fumes from the Bedfordshire the from fumes wood and on the railway line. line. railway the on and wood

The wood is reached via an ancient track called called track ancient an via reached is wood The Hayley Hayley

middle of last century by by century last of middle rich flowers that grow in the the in grow that flowers rich

badly damaged in the the in damaged badly found feeding on the nectar nectar the on feeding found

800 years. years. 800

rare lichens. These were were These lichens. rare Many species of butterfly can be be can butterfly of species Many

boundaries of the wood have hardly changed in the past past the in changed hardly have wood the of boundaries

Old trees are also a habitat for for habitat a also are trees Old

(1086) and once belonged to the Bishops of Ely. The The Ely. of Bishops the to belonged once and (1086) for hole-nesting birds and insects. insects. and birds hole-nesting for

Fauna

centuries. It is documented back to the Domesday Book Book Domesday the to back documented is It centuries. that make them a valuable habitat habitat valuable a them make that

Hayley Wood has been managed by man over many many over man by managed been has Wood Hayley the hollow insides and dead boughs boughs dead and insides hollow the

becoming ‘veteran’ trees, developing developing trees, ‘veteran’ becoming

wild strawberry. wild

220 years old. Some, mainly ash, are are ash, mainly Some, old. years 220 History

species such as knapweed, St John’s wort and and wort John’s St knapweed, as such species

oak and ash trees are around 160 to to 160 around are trees ash and oak

white flowered fairy flax as well as more common common more as well as flax fairy flowered white

again many times. Most of the large large the of Most times. many again

woolly thistle, tall purple stalks of great burnet and tiny tiny and burnet great of stalks purple tall thistle, woolly

that have been cut down and grown grown and down cut been have that

conditions for many different plants, animals and fungi. fungi. and animals plants, different many for conditions plant species, including hairy violet, clustered bell-flower, bell-flower, clustered violet, hairy including species, plant

multiple stems arising from gnarled bases bases gnarled from arising stems multiple

plots and open rides and glades provides perfect perfect provides glades and rides open and plots The railway line has become home to many interesting interesting many to home become has line railway The

oldest trees are ash and maple coppice stools with with stools coppice maple and ash are trees oldest

Cambridgeshire. The mosaic of dense woodland, coppice coppice woodland, dense of mosaic The Cambridgeshire.

most common tree species found in the reserve. The The reserve. the in found species tree common most

Hayley Wood is one of the largest ancient woodlands in in woodlands ancient largest the of one is Wood Hayley fungus or the large brackets of dryad’s saddle. saddle. dryad’s of brackets large the or fungus

Oak, ash, elm, maple, hazel, aspen and sallow are the the are sallow and aspen hazel, maple, elm, ash, Oak,

can spot the thin white columns of the candle snuff snuff candle the of columns white thin the spot can

wood, most of which appear in early autumn. See if you you if See autumn. early in appear which of most wood,

Trees Welcome to Hayley Wood Hayley to Welcome At least 540 species of fungi have been found in the the in found been have fungi of species 540 least At

Management We hope you enjoy your visit For over 750 years Hayley, like most English woods, has been coppiced; areas of ash, hazel and maple were cut down and allowed to grow again from the stump. This produced a renewable supply of firewood as well as materials for fencing and construction. Historically nearly the whole wood would have been managed in this way. More information Welcome to declined throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries but was revived here in 1963. It was one of the Your local Wildlife Trust protects wildlife and the first sites to reintroduce the practice for the benefit of countryside for people to enjoy in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and . We are a Hayley Wood wildlife, something that is now much more widespread. Coppice plots have been established along the main ride charity dependent on voluntary contributions. If you though much of the reserve is now managed as would like more information about this reserve, other non-intervention woodland where natural processes are reserves in the area or to find out how you can support allowed to dominate. us or get involved, please contact:

The grassy rides and glade are mown on a bi-annual The Wildlife Trust, The Manor House, Broad Street, regime to reduce nutrient levels and enhance the diversity Great Cambourne, CB23 6DH. of wildflowers. The railway line is mown to prevent Telephone: 01954 713 500 encroachment of scrub and dominance of tall species Email: [email protected] such as willowherb.

This leaflet has been made possible thanks to the support of : How to find the reserve

OS sheet 153, Grid reference TL 292 530

St Neots 8 miles, Cambridge 17 miles.

Take the A428 from St Neots towards Cambridge. After around 6 miles turn right onto the A1198 towards Royston. After 3 miles turn right to Longstowe on the B1046. A mile beyond the village look for a water tower on your right. Park on the verge opposite and walk 300m up Hayley Lane to reach the reserve.

You can also reach Hayley Wood by taking a bus from Cambridge to Longstowe and then walking 1½ miles.

www.wildlifebcn.org Cover photograph by Duncan Mackay. Illustrations Mike Langman Protecting Wildlife The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, close to home Northamptonshire. Registered charity no: 1000412

Hayley Wood Leaflet Rev07.indd 1 25/04/2012 23:13:05 Deer Deciduous woodland Coppice As in most woods Hayley has suffered from the 20th century increase in deer numbers. When the Trust Dry grassland purchased the reserve in 1962 fallow deer, originally introduced to Britain by the Normans, were already Pond present. Since then numbers have increased and they have been joined by much smaller muntjac deer, an early Reserve path Hayley Lane 20th century introduction from China. Too many deer Road put extreme pressure on the wood by eating young tree Reserve boundary saplings, coppice regrowth and wildflowers such as oxlips as well as removing valuable low cover for birds. Left Public bridleway unmanaged they would have a devastating effect on the Deer Fence 1 reserve. N When coppicing first resumed in the wood, some ash trees were cut at shoulder height (a process known as 2 pollarding) to prevent the regrowth from being eaten by fallow deer. These tall pollards can still be seen in some of the coppice plots. 3 Since 2002 most of the wood has been surrounded by a tall fence designed to exclude deer. Before this oxlip 4 numbers had reduced from around 2 million plants to approximately a quarter of a million. Numbers are now increasing again and many plants have grown much 6 larger. The large plastic pipes under the fence are designed to allow badgers to pass through but not Pond ride Main ride muntjac.

5

0 100 200 300 Coppice cycle Metres Points of interest

1 Railway Line 3 Ancient Oak

When the railway was built Hayley Lane was Dating back over 400 years, this oak is such a busy thoroughfare that it warranted a thought to be the oldest tree in the wood. full scale level crossing complete with cottage Parts of the tree have begun to die providing (now privately owned) which can still be seen valuable deadwood habitat for invertebrates. today. Reclaimed by nature since 1969, around In the past it has been pollarded, a technique a fifth of the total number of plant species that involves periodically cutting the upper found in the reserve can be seen here. This branches enabling them to shoot again and so strip of grassland is an excellent place to spot prolonging the life of the tree. butterflies feeding on wildflowers. 4 Coppice plots Nuthatch 2 The Triangle There are 14 one acre coppice plots running alongside the main ride. Each winter one plot 5 Roundabout Agricultural depression around the turn of is cut to allow more light and warmth to reach the 20th century led to seven acres of arable the woodland floor. We are slowly expanding The point where the two main rides meet is land adjacent to Old Hayley Wood being coppicing along the other woodland rides. known as the Roundabout. Historically this abandoned. By the 1920s scrub had begun This is a good place to see oxlips and wood area was used as a turning point by horses to invade and over time this has naturally anemone, which take advantage of the higher when extracting timber. An information shelter developed into an area of woodland. levels of sunlight in more recently cut plots. is now located here where you can find out Flowering plants are slowly spreading into more about the reserve. it and it is a good place to spot bird’s nest orchid. If you look closely you can see that 6 Tower Hide the ground is undulating with uniform strips of high and low ground. This is known as This is a great opportunity to climb up into the ridge and furrow and is the result of ploughing canopy and see some of the bird species that during this area’s agricultural past. like to stay up in the trees.

Wood anemone

Hayley Wood Leaflet Rev07.indd 2 25/04/2012 23:13:07