Pipers Hill Common Restoration

The project involves a 3 year programme aimed at restoring Piper’s Hill Common to its original wood pasture state. Piper’s Hill Common is a 15.5ha SSSI former wood pasture. It is a nationally important site and is important regionally for its population of veteran trees (dating back around 300 to 500 years), associated invertebrates and fungi. The trees are being overshadowed and killed by younger trees and last year we completed a 3 year programme of partially opening up the canopy. The veterans have reacted well and new epicormic growth can be seen on some of the branches. We now need to build on that programme in an effort to bring the site back to its original wood pasture state.
The site is also important for invertebrates and the new project will involve increasing the amount and quality of scrub and hawthorne on site for the benefit of saproxylic invertebrates.