Quantock Hills Blog
If you go down to the woods today….
- It's National Tree Week, so lets hear it for our beautiful Quantock woodland.
Posted by Andy Harris on 28 November 2011
As the weather turns colder (about time) it’s a great time to appreciate our woods with a walk or ride through them as they offer protection against the wintery weather for us and our wildlife.
This week the importance of the woodland habitat is being recognised in National Tree Week and on the Quantocks we have the magnificent forest of Great Wood and also the historic sessile oak woods that run down into the village of Holford. These woods are so important as a habitat that they have the highest level of European protection and are designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
If you go down to Great Wood today you may be in for a bit of a surprise. My colleague and Forestry Commission Works Supervisor Owen Meredith is skilled in the art of chainsaw carving and a couple of weeks ago we placed two of his works around the red trail in Ramscombe.
A small but significant animal of the woods is the wood ant which builds its home amongst the conifers during the summer months from fallen needles and dead vegetation with some of the domes reaching almost 2m in height. Although the ant colony is now dormant Owen's superb carving is a reminder of what can be found in the forest, even if it’s a little larger than its natural inspiration.
Further round the red route you may also come across another carving that even the hungriest song thrush would have difficulties in tackling, see whether you can find it!
For more information about National Tree Week follow this link
Andy
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Useful Contacts
Quantock AONB Service
Tel: 01823 451 884
Somerset Wildlife Trust
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www.somersetwildlife.org
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