Open Spaces

We are very fortunate to have wonderful open spaces within our village boundary that residents and visitors can enjoy. To help care for these we have sought advice from wildlife and conservation experts, worked with specialist contractors and been supported by village volunteers. The most recent work has been to increase the diversity of wildlife and health of the woodland adjacent to the village hall and tennis courts, as well as work in the fruit orchard and soft fruit garden. As projects progress we will keep you updated.

Community Land Tidy Days
These are planned at various times throughout the year, to help collect leaves, windfall fruits, and pruning the fruit trees and shrubs. These are advertised on the village Facebook page and noticeboards. If you are free then please come along with your gardening equipment to help. There’s often free refreshments afterwards.

Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Tree Management and Protection Policy
Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) have issued a policy on how they plan to manage and protect trees. The policy will run until 2028 and provide guidance and consider legalisation on how RBC will manage its own trees, respond to requests from members of the public to maintain trees they care for, and deal with any statutory duties and planning applications. You can find out more on RBC’s website.

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Wildflower Meadow and Orchard Survey June 2024
The Parish Council would like to thank Ben Driver, from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, for conducting the following survey on our orchard and wildflower meadow in June 2024.  We are very encouraged by his findings. Follow this link for the species list from Ben’s survey.

Ben reports:
”There are at least a dozen orchid spikes just past the play area. I think the bee orchid (whilst not super rare) is still a good news story and shows how well the meadow is doing!

My thoughts on the ongoing management:

Orchard – this contained most of the species I found in the meadow, plus a few additional that are ‘desirable’, including bird’s-foot trefoil. Overall, it did contain more of the ‘undesirable’ species than the meadow but it’s still looking okay. I did think there would be much more bramble regrowth, so it was a pleasant surprise that the regrowth appeared quite limited.

Meadow – this is looking good. Lots of ‘desirable’ species, such as wild carrot and knapweed and very few ‘undesirables’ such as nettle, creeping thistle and bramble. I think the mowing (cut ’n collect) has really helped and should be continued.” 

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Broadleaf Woodland Conservation February 2024

The Woodland Walk was planted by residents around 2005.  Now almost 20 years later it is time to do some work to ensure its health and longevity.

The land will shortly be transferred from Upper Saxondale Residents Association Community Interest Company (USRAcic ) to Upper Saxondale Parish Council (USPC) who will aim to keep the woodland maintained for the residents and ensure its future as an amenity.  Furthermore, USPC plan to increase the wildlife diversity by increasing the numbers of birds, insects, small mammals, wildflowers, fungi and to introduce native and naturalised trees that are not already there.  With climate change already happening the woodland will become a more precious resource.  Trees like everything else will fight for resources,  such as water, sunlight and nutrients, thus, rather than everything failing to thrive, we need to select the correct trees to maintain.

The main trees that we have are silver birch, oak, beech, ash, hazel, field maple and Guelder rose.

When planting a wood there are always more trees planted than will survive or should survive and therefore management is needed to optimise the trees that are healthy.

USRAcic and the USPC have taken expert advice from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWLT), Tom Petitt who is Conservation Office at Rushcliffe Borough Council, and four different specialist contractors. NWLT will continue to monitor, guide and advise us

Our plan is:

1. Where possible to increase the safety for residents using the woodland.

2. To ensure the woodland’s long term future as a community amenity.

3. To increase diversity of wildlife.

4. To leave dead wood on woodland floor an excellent habitat for insects small rodents and mammals and to create wood piles as another habitat.

5. To leave some dead, but not diseased trees standing as this is also a preferred habitat for some birds.

6. To introduce new native or naturalised trees to ensure diversity for the benefit of wildlife.

7. To avoid over tidying the woodland respecting its natural state and purpose.

The work required is as follows:

1.  Coppicing of hazel to promote regeneration through selective cutting.

2. Removing some silver birch to optimise tree health.

3. Removing weak trees that threaten oaks and beeches.

4. Thinning out where required.

5. Keeping paths clear and safe.

6. Cutting back brambles encroaching on paths.

7. Removing plastic guards from established trees.

This work will be done outside bird nesting times and it is envisaged that it will be done in stages the next 18 months or so, creating the opportunity to assess as we proceed.

The first stage of work is planned to be 19th-21st February 2024

Other work that we will consider:

1. Succession planting, new native and naturalised trees

2. Planting of woodland bulbs and flowers such as wild garlic, red campion, wood anemone, primroses, foxglove, common sorrel, lungwort, woodruff.

3. Introducing more bird boxes.

4. Working with NWLT to assess the woodland floor, field layer, shrub layer, understory and canopy from time to time to ensure the correct balance for a woodland of this nature.

5. Encouraging residents to engage with the management of our woodland, orchard and other areas of the village.