The Town Council is working to re-establish the bluebells in Redhatch Copse and is asking walkers to keep to the designated pathways whilst enjoying the ancient woodland. In November, we shared that we had reworked some smash hit songs to act as a helpful reminder and highlight where the work is being carried out.
Whilst the signs received a positive reaction from the majority of residents, sadly, one or two individuals have not taken kindly to them, and the signs received repeated vandalism over the subsequent weeks. Unfortunately, each time the perpetrator has struck, they have trampled all over the areas of woodland floor that the Council is trying to protect and preserve, causing damage.
Having received some feedback to our Facebook posts about the vandalism, we wanted to provide some further information about Redhatch Copse and the woodland management techniques being used by the Town Council.
Redhatch Copse was transferred to Earley Town Council from the housing developer in July 2023.
As a public access woodland, a degree of woodland management is required in order to encourage biodiversity, preserve the future of the woodland and reduce risks posed to the public. Prior to the transfer of land to Earley Town Council, no formal active management had taken place for a number of years.
Annual tree surveys and regular monitoring are carried out, and works are conducted in accordance with the findings e.g. branches, limbs or trees being identified as unsafe or diseased.
In some areas, coppicing has taken place. Coppicing involves cutting a tree back to its base, and although it may look dramatic at first, this woodland management technique encourages the trees to grow back thicker over time which creates extremely valuable habitat. Whilst carrying out the coppicing works, our Rangers and volunteers also removed some invasive and/or fast-growing species, thus encouraging native species to thrive. These works also allow more sunlight to reach the woodland floor, which in turn allows a wider variety of plants to flourish.
Some clearance of brambles has taken place. This has been done in order to stop the brambles taking over, to allow more sunlight to reach the woodland floor and to encourage greater biodiversity within the ancient woodland.
Techniques such as these are widely recognised longstanding woodland management tools which have been proven to improve the health and biodiversity of ancient woodlands such as Redhatch Copse.
The repeated vandalism of the bluebell signs has been reported to the police and the site continues to be monitored. If anyone has any questions or concerns about the work being carried out within this ancient woodland, then we would encourage you to contact the Town Council directly and one of our officers would be more than happy to discuss this with you.