River Pathway Woodland Sea: Woodland: Bradfield Woods, Suffolk.

A Dead Hedge: a non-living hedgerow, utilising the remainder of woodland product.

Discovering the ancient Woodland:

One of my regular walks from Bury St Edmunds to Rushbrooke/Little Welnetham led me to stray further afield within an acceptable limit on the ordnance survey map. It is the distal end of Autumn and the first of the hoar frosts have arrived. By the time I reach the woods the sun has cleared the frost, leaving this leaf-strewn earthly paradise deliciously damp and enticing.

I have yet to learn what is edible in the realm of the funghi.

Some brief research has informed me that these woods are ancient. Records date back to 1251 of the woodland being continuously traditionally managed since this time yet, some of the coppice stools (stumps) pre-date even this time frame. The Suffolk wildlife Trust states that there are 370 species of flowering plant, 24 varieties of butterflies and 420 differing funghi. This woodland has more ancient woodland indicators than any other in Britain. It was also very nearly lost by absorbtion into large-scale arable farming and being saved only as recently as the 1990s. This woodland was once managed by the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds back in the aeons of time.

Ash Coppice.

The Coppice woodland is also home to migrant songbirds and mammals which include stoat, yellow-necked mice, badgers, dormice and deer (roe & muntjac). The dead-hedging is an aid to protecting the young coppice from deer.