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.

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 | |

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 |