The reserve areas are quite widely scattered, and can be quite difficult to locate without a knowledgeable guide, or a map showing the paths and rides through the wood. Areas in the stream valleys can be wet even in summer and boots are advised. Please take care not to trample the fen vegetation which is highly vulnerable and contains scarce plants.

Description

Queen’s Wood forms part of a large block of woodland on the Herefordshire/ Gloucestershire border known as Dymock Forest. The Forest is owned by the Forestry Comminssion and large sections have been felled and planted up with conifers. Considerable areas of ancient woodland remain, however, some in the form of strips of coppice alongside streams running through the conifer compartments. The HNT reserves are made up of eight separate fragments of this original woodland, which have been converted into short-rotation coppice and coppice with standards by the Ledbury Naturalist’s working party over many years.

Dymock Forest is an outstanding site for fauna and flora, and is particularly renowned for its extremely rich variety of Lepidoptera. 470 different species have been recorded by Dr. Harper and others, including many local and some national rarities. A number of species are known only in Queen’s Wood and not elsewhere in Herefordshire.

Reserve 1 (Motorway reserve): Broad-leaved coppice with standards on a 7-16 year cycle. Tree species include Sallow, Aspen, Alder Buckthorn, Hazel, Oak, Silver Birch, Wild Service, Guelder Rose and Small-leaved Lime. The ground flora includes an abundance of Wild Daffodils, Golden Rod, Devils Bit Scabious, Common Spotted and occasional Greater Butterfly Orchids. Heather and Bracken are found on the drier areas. The presence of young coppice encourages a variety of scarce moths: the localised Marbled White Spot and the Argent & Sable, both of which need young birch coppice; the Orange Moth needing Privet and Honeysuckle; the rare Lampronia fuscatella feeding in galls in young birch twigs; and the Barred Clearwing, here at its only known Herefordshire locality, feeding on young Alder and Birch coppice shoots between 2 and 8 years old. Dormice and Glow-worms also occur, while Brimstone butterflies are frequent in spring and summer.

A feature of these Queen’s Wood coppice reserves are the conical stacks ('wig-wams') of cut deadwood poles, collected together from coppicing operations. These have many different conservation functions - they provide shelter and nesting sites for small birds and mammals; they provide a variety of sun-basking spots for insects as the sun moves round during the day and they provide a varied food-supply for a number of wood-boring insects.

Reserve 2 (Fiveways reserve): This is an area of Birch and Alder coppice on the southern slope of a stream valley. The central part of the site is a Douglas Fir plantation with occasional mature Beech trees. The ground flora here is limited to a few dense Bramble patches. The western end consists of Alder and Ash, with some coppiced areas containing many Wild Daffodils. The eastern end consists of mature Silver Birch, Oak, Sallow, Alder and Alder Buckthorn, some of which is coppiced. Plants found here include Betony, Golden Rod, Pendulous Sedge and Primrose, while Lily of the Valley occurs nearby. The site holds Dormice, Glow-worms and, up until 1998, Pearl-bordered Fritillary, although there are no recent confirmed sightings. Scarce moths recorded include the Barred Clearwing, the Argent and Sable, the Brindled White Spot, plus two localised species of Coleophora on the Alder and Birch. The river-dwelling Club-tailed Dragonfly has also been seen.

Reserves 3 and 4 (RESTRICTED ACCESS): This block of two reserves is an area of very varied habitat, containing coppice with open glades and adjacent dry slopes with developing heath vegetation, two narrow streams with small ponds, acid marsh with limestone feeder springs, and wet fen with tufa deposition. Conifers surround the northern and southern boundaries, while the eastern boundary adjoins an area of clear-felled Scots Pine, which is being allowed to regenerate into fresh broad-leaved coppice. An exciting wet fen vegetation has developed in the eastern part of the reserve, including Marsh Helleborine, Fragrant Orchid, Bog Pimpernel, Marsh Valerian, Cotton Grass, Wood Reed Grass and Purple Moor grass. The slopes on the southern arm of the site are turning into an interesting dry heath community, with Heather, Bilberry and Gorse. The reserve contains other notable plants, including Golden Rod, Cow-Wheat and the scarce Narrow Buckler Fern.

Brimstone and White Admiral butterflies are frequent in this reserve, which also hosts a number of scarce moths. In addition to the Barred Clearwing and Marbled White Spot which occur in the other reserves, the orchid reserve holds the Wood Spurge-dependent Drab Looper, the very local Little Thorn, and two major rarities - Elachista cingilella (only one UK record in the last century) and the rare fen micromoth Micropterix mansuetella. Other notable species present include the scarce Slender Ground Hopper, Dormice and Harvest Mice.

Reserve 5 (Ragged Robin reserve): Broad-leaved woodland flanking a small stream, part managed as Silver Birch/Sallow/Ash open coppice, part maintained as coppice with standards. There are two wet areas containing 3 species of sedge, plus Ragged Robin. Wild Daffodils are abundant, Turtle Doves have been recorded and there is an active Badger sett.

Reserve 6 (Flailed reserve): The site contains mixed coppice, together with a small area of fen, and an area of planted Tulip trees, Sweet Chestnut and Bracken. A stream runs along the northern boundary. Approximately two-thirds of the coppiced part was 're-coppiced' using a mechanical flail during the 1998/99 winter, and the re-growth is being monitored. The ground flora includes Wild Daffodil, Bluebells, Wood Spurge and Pendulous Sedge, while Narrow Buckler Fern is quite common here. Dormice, Glow-worms and Turtle Dove have all been recorded. Entomological interest includes the Drab Looper and White-lined Snout moths.

Reserve 7 (Warbler & Brimstone reserve): A broad-leaf reserve, re-coppiced from derelict coppice around 1997/98. A stream runs along the eastern edge and this area remains damp enough to support Lesser Spearwort and Pendulous Sedge. Trees include Alder Buckthorn, Silver Birch, Wild Service, Rowan, Yew and Small-leaved Lime. The ground flora includes Bluebells, Cow-wheat, Bilberry, Herb Paris, Golden Rod and Devils Bit Scabious. The site supports four species of summer warbler including Garden Warbler, while a pair of Goshawks are known to breed locally. Dormice, Glow-worms and Harvest Mice are all present. The Alder Buckthorn coppice supports large numbers of Brimstone butterfly caterpillars in some years; the Drab Looper and Beautiful Snout. Argent and Sable moths have been reocrded in the past. The micro-moth Oecophora abractella lives in the deadwood wig-wams, Queenswood being its only Herefordshire station.

Reserve 8: The most recently established reserve. The new coppice of Birch and Hazel also contains much Small-leaved Lime and Wild Service. Wild Privet is common, and the ground flora includes Bilberry, Wild Daffodil, Herb Paris and Cow-wheat. Scarce moths present include the Beautiful Snout, Drab Looper and Lead-coloured Pug (feeding on Cow-wheat). Goshawks have been seen hunting through the reserve.

Management on all the reserves involves coppicing on a 10 to 16 year cycle. Where coppice with standards is the objective, then no more than 10 native standard trees per hectare are kept. Fen and heath areas are kept free of shading and encroachment by canopy trees. Young coppice helps to support the very special lepidopteran fauna of the wood.

Owned by the Forestry Commission, but managed by the Ledbury Naturalists’ Woking Party by agreement.

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