A new beginning...

Welcome to the Sharphill Wood Friends Group Blog


Sharphill Wood sits nestled within its moat of corn and rapeseed looking out over West Bridgford, Nottingham.

The wood needs to receive Local Nature Reserve status to help conserve the habitat for wildlife in the future.

That's where the Friends of Sharphill Wood come in.

Without this group, Local Nature Reserve Status cannot happen. Only when partnership between the Rushcliffe Council, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Friends Group collaborate in equal measure can LNR status be given.

The friends group need local residents to join up for conservation work, surveying of wildlife, promotion, fund raising, but mainly to have first hand input into the direction the work will go in for years to come.


Conservation Progress

There has been conservation work done already to the wood over the last few months thanks to the Wildlife Trust and soon conservation days will be set up through the friends group.

The most important elements to be done initially are clearing the canopy in places to allow light into the forest floor. This can be done by removing mature sycamore which do not belong here, in fact they are an introduced species from high ground in southern and central Europe and were originally brought in for their wood.

Hedge laying is also an important initial activity in order to establish a middle layer within the wood, allowing many birds, insects and mammals to populate the area. Bird and bat boxes can be installed reasonably quickly too.

There are many access points around the wood currently and these need blocking in order to restrict access elsewhere other than from the main entry points and paths.

Details on how to access the wood will be available in the coming months and anyone who walks the woods can let the group know what wildlife they have seen by sending an email to us.

Any help with surveying will be greatly appreciated.

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Please email Kate kateftroy[at]yahoo.co.uk if you have any free time to help develop the group in order to ensure a prosperous future for the woods.

Thank you

Sharphill Wood - Click to enlarge (Image Copyright Kate Troy)

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Facts about Sharphill Wood


The wood is 9.6 ha (23.73 acres) in size and is a mixed broadleaved woodland, with oak and ash being the dominant tree species. The woodland has been designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) in recognition of its botanical and zoological interest which includes, amongst others, a number of woodland wildflowers, birds and mammals.

The woodland occurs on heavy red clay soils with a small portion of sand and gravel to the most north westerly corner of the wood.

The oldest record of the wood discovered to date shows the southern-most portion only, in existence in 1835 (Sanderson 1835). By 1887 the wood appears, in its present shape and size, on an Ordnance Survey map (Sheet 46) of 1887 - 1891. At this time it was depicted as a mixed broad-leaved and conifer plantation.

At present there are no public rights of way to the woodland, however it is frequently accessed by local residents from a number of locations but primarily from a path to the south of the wood along a field margin. This can be reached via subway under the A52 off Landmere Lane.

The wood is surrounded by 29.13 ha (72 acres) of arable farmland. The fields are bounded to the NE and NW by housing developments, to the South by the A52 ring road, to the SE by Wheatcrofts Garden Centre and Business Park and to the West by West Bridgford Cemetery leading to Wilford Hill Wood, a mixed woodland managed by Notts Wildlife Trust.


Thanks to Gaynor Jones Jenkins, Conservation Officer for West Notts (Notts Wildlife Trust) for the facts on Sharphill Wood