Northaw Great Wood is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near

Cuffley Cuffley is a village in the civil parish of Northaw and Cuffley, in the Welwyn Hatfield district of south-east Hertfordshire located between Cheshunt and Potters Bar. It has a population of just over 4,000 people. and is part of Broxbourne ...

in Hertfordshire, England. It covers Northaw Great Wood Country Park, which is managed by

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, to distinguish it from the much newer and larger se ...

, Well Wood, Justice Hill and Grimes Bottom. Part of the site is managed by

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...

as a schools' park. The country park is also a local nature reserve. The wood was part of a large area of

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a ...

in the parish of

Northaw Northaw is a village in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Northaw and Cuffley (where at the 2011 Census the population was included), which was originally known as Northaw. The parish ha ...

which was used for grazing livestock and source of wood fuel. Closure of the canopy has led to the disappearance of open woodland birds such as

nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

s and

tree pipit The tree pipit (''Anthus trivialis'') is a small passerine bird which breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic as far East as the East Siberian Mountains. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to Africa and southern Asia. The s ...

s, but the management plan for the wood aims to restore biodiversity. The site has one of the county's most extensive areas of ancient

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornbeam ...

woodland, with other trees including

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and

silver birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

. Glades, streams and springs add to the biodiversity. There is access from the Ridgeway in

and facilities include a car park and toilets.

References

External links

Friends of Northaw Wood
{{coord, 51.7228, -0.1483 , type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hertfordshire Local Nature Reserves in Hertfordshire Country parks in Hertfordshire Welwyn Hatfield Forests and woodlands of Hertfordshire

See also

References

External links