Therefore, un-coppiced woodland is not necessarily “bad” but we try to create a balance and variety of habitats in the woodlands we manage (or help manage). However, there are many species that do benefit from shadier woodlands and as a result, species such as the Silver-washed Fritillary and White Admiral are now doing better now than they were doing 100 years ago. Over the last century, this practice has decreased drastically, which has had a hugely negative impact on forest clearing specialists, such as the Pearl Bordered Fritillary, a butterfly that requires coppice between 2 & 4 year’s old in this part of the world. Therefore, by partially coppicing even a small woodland, like Ruffet and Bigwood, you can dramatically increase the number of different plants and animal species that inhabit it, turning something homogenous and dreary into an area bursting with life and colour come the spring. The wood gathered can then be left in piles, providing great habitat for a large variety of invertebrates, mosses, lichens and fungi.Ĭreating different levels of shade and vegetation density creates a wider variety of habitat niches, which are filled by a diversity of plants and animals.
As a coup becomes older, it becomes a dense area of scrub, which is a valuable habitat for low cover nesting birds, such as the declining Nightingale.Ĭoppicing can also help to increase the diversity of trees in a woodland, by leaving certain species to reach maturity, whilst other, more numerous species, can be repressed. John’s-wort to become established, making the area more suitable for many butterfly species and other woodland pollinators. This presents an opportunity for woodland flowers, such as British bluebells, wood anemone, dog violets and St. A study on coppicing capability of some tropical trees, including Leucaena leucocephala, Gmelina arborea, Tectona grandis and Pileostigma malabaricum var. By removing some of the canopy through coppicing, you can create a “coup” (a discrete area of coppice), allowing more light and heat to reach the forest floor. While originally used to produce various building materials (hurdles, wattle and daub etc.) and charcoal, today it is mainly maintained by conservation groups to create a habitat that was once prevalent in our woodlands and is now largely absent.
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