Ruffett Wood and Big Wood are adjoining woods with a total area of on the border of the
London Borough of Sutton, close to the village of
Woodmansterne. Big Wood is to the south and Ruffett Wood (sometimes shown as Ruffet Wood) is to the north. They are owned by Sutton Council and managed by the
Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...
.
They are designated a
Local Nature Reserve and a
Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1.
The woods are the largest continuous area of woodland in the borough of Sutton.
Ruffett Wood is mainly sycamore, with some ash and hazel. It has some plant species indicative of
ancient woodland, such as
bluebells,
dog's mercury
''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.sanicle
''Sanicula'' is a genus of plants in Family (biology), family Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae), the same family to which the carrot and parsnip belong. This genus has about 45 species worldwide, with at least 22 in North America.Focus on Rarities (fro ...
. Big Wood is even more dominated by sycamore, and has two large oaks, but due to shading by a high canopy it lacks indicator species apart from one stand of
wood anemone The phrase wood anemone is used in common names for several closely related species of flowering plants in genus ''Anemonoides'', including:
* ''Anemonoides nemorosa
''Anemonoides nemorosa'' (syn. ''Anemone nemorosa''), the wood anemone, is an e ...
. The site also has numerous bird species.
[
There is access from Richland Avenue.][
]
References
{{Local Nature Reserves in Greater London
Local nature reserves in Greater London
Nature reserves in the London Borough of Sutton
Woodland Trust