JOINT APPROACH TO SAVE WOOD

TONY JACKSON explores a lost world which is the focus of a special fund-raising appeal

Forming part of the three South Dartmoor Valleys, the 342-acre Ausewell Wood, to the west of Ashburton, has an extraordinary history and background.

A wood of massive oak, ash and beech trees with an under storey of native species, including hazel, rowan, hawthorn, alder, willow and sycamore, it is home to a wide range of birds, mammals and insect life. In addition, the wood sustains an extensive range of native plants, ferns and grasses, not to mentions hundreds of different lichens and mosses.

Sadly, though, around 160 acres were clear felled after the last war and planted with conifers which, growing tall and dark, have created gloomy, shaded areas where no native plants can thrive and, as I saw, a new generation of young fir trees is taking over.

Today, the Woodland Trust has joined forces with the National Trust to save this very special woodland and restore it to its former glory. The National Trust has already bought half the wood and the Woodland Trust has launched an appeal to raise in the region of £1m to acquire and restore the remaining woodland. This is, in fact, the second time the two trusts have co-operated in a joint woodland purchase as six years ago they acquired Fingle Woods in Devon.