Hayley_Wood Knowpia

Hayley Wood
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location	Cambridgeshire
Grid reference	TL 291 529
Interest	Biological
Area	51.7 hectares
Notification	1984
Location map	Magic Map

Hayley Wood is a 51.7-hectare (128-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Great Gransden in Cambridgeshire.^[1]^[2] It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1,^[3] and it is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.^[4] It was the subject of a book by the academic and woodland expert Oliver Rackham, listed below, who regularly visited and recorded his observations of the woodland in his notebooks.^[5]

History edit

A large wood in this area of the parish was mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, but by 1251 it had been split into two: Hayley Wood (40 acres) and Littlehound Wood (32 acres). Agriculture in the area declined after 1350 and the wooded area expanded; by 1650, Hayley Wood covered 120 acres (0.49 km²) and Littlehound 40 acres. In around 1655, Littlehound was 'new stubbed' and disappeared under cultivation, although its outline can still be seen in the form of field boundaries.^[6] Hayley Wood was confiscated from the Bishop of Ely by Queen Elizabeth in 1579 and whenceforth became privately owned.^[7]

The Varsity Line - a railway between Bedford and Cambridge - ran along the wood's northern edge between 1863-1969.^[7] Now disused and dismantled, its bed hosts a variety of flowers such as hairy violet and clustered bellflower.^[8] In 1962, Hayley Wood was the first site to be purchased by the recently formed Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Naturalists' Trust^[8] (now the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire).^[9]

Geography edit

Hayley Wood lies in the south-east corner of the civil parish of Little Gransden in Cambridgeshire, 10 miles (17 km) south-west of Cambridge and 45 miles (73 km) north of London.^[10] The clay soil is heavy, leading to waterlogged conditions^[11] on the flat hilltop.^[7]

Flora and fauna edit

The structure of Hayley Wood is coppice-with-standards of field maple, ash, hazel and hawthorn species, with a canopy of pedunculate oak and small areas of small-leaved elm. Most of the oak trees date from between 1780–1840, older than most woodland oaks.^[7]

The soil favours oxlip and meadowsweet – the wood is described as 'one of the largest oxlip woods on the chalky Boulder Clay in Britain'.^[11] bluebell and yellow archangel grow in drier parts. Plants typical of ancient woodland, including wood anemone, dog's mercury and early purple orchid, grow;^[7] bird's-nest orchid and pale sedge can also be found.

Management edit

There are many ancient coppice stools in the wood; coppicing was practiced from at least the 13th Century until the early 20th Century, with a revival from 1964.^[7] Dead wood is left as it is an excellent habitat for liverworts and woodpeckers.^[7]

The rides and glades are mown to keep nutrient levels down. Most of the wood is surrounded by a fence, erected in 1972,^[7] to exclude deer, which has had the effect of reversing the decline in Hayley Wood's Oxlip population.^[4]

Access edit

There is access from the B1046 road by Hayley Lane.

References edit

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Designated Sites View: Hayley Wood". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ "Map of Hayley Wood". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ Ratcliffe, Derek, ed. (1977). A Nature Conservation Review. Vol. 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0521-21403-3.
^ ^a ^b "Hayley Wood". Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ "Oliver Rackham". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
^ 'Parishes: Little Gransden', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5 (1973), pp. 87-99. Retrieved 10 April 2009
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Rackham, Oliver (1997). The Illustrated History of the Countryside. Second Edition. Phoenix Illustrated, London. pp98-101. ISBN 1-85799-953-3
^ ^a ^b "Welcome to Hayley Wood" (PDF). Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ "Our History". Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ Streetmap.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2009
^ ^a ^b Natural England SSSI citation. Retrieved 10 April 2009