Voltaire's Wood Biodiversity Program

Alongside our management of Hazel Woods, restoring coppice and thinning dense areas, we are conducting a biodiversity monitoring program so we can see the effect that our work has on the woodland life over the years - a sign that we are managing it well. We are currently collecting baseline data on what species are present as well as surveying the habitat quality.

Goldfinch (Flickr: HaPe_Gera)

We have over 200 species of plant and 50 species of bird recorded in the woodland already, but we hope to increase the diversity of some the lower quality areas through our habitat management. Cutting coppice and thinning out dense areas allows light to get to the floor so that more plants can grow which may attract different insects which may attract more birds to the woods. We are also looking at butterfly numbers as an indicator of habitat quality hoping to attract some of the rarer species. One day we may have small pearl bordered fritillaries flitting down butterfly glide. That will be a sure sign of success.

Here's a snapshot of where we are in May 2020.

Voltaire’s Butterflies

Brimstone	Holly blue	Orange-tip	Fritillary
Comma	Common Blue	Painted lady	Small tortoiseshell
Common blue	Large white	Peacock	Small white
Dingy skipper	Marbled white	Red admiral	Speckled wood
Green-veined white	Meadow brown	Silver washed

Silver-washed Fritillary (Flickr: HaPe_Gera)

Voltaire’s Birds

Non-passerines
Barn owl	Kestral	Stock dove
Buzzard	Mallard	Swift
Collared dove	Merlin	Tawny owl
Great spotted woodpecker	Pheasant	Wood pigeon
Green woodpecker	Sparrowhawk	Woodcock

Passerines
Black bird	Goldcrest	Magpie	Skylark
Blackcap	Goldfinch	Marsh tit	Song thrush
Bluetit	Great tit	Mistle thrush	Spotted flycatcher
Bullfinch	Greenfinch	Nuthatch