Trees at Kinver Edge, part one: Large numbers of small ones.

The woodland at Kinver Edge is dominated primarily by two species of trees: silver birch Betula pendula and penduculate oak Quercus robur. A few other species form minor components, such as ash Fraxinus excelsior and beech Fagus sylvatica; and a small number of areas are dominated by sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus and aspen Poplar tremulus.

Homogenous age birch thickets.

The majority of the oak-birch woodland is young in nature, having in the most part developed with the end of the site's agricultural use during the 20th century. Within this natural regeneration, the impact of human intervention can be detected in some places, whilst in others it is apparent by its absence. Dense almost homogenous-age stands of birch exist as a testimony to a historic sudden local occurance, such as removal of grazing; elsewhere older similar stands have been thinned to create copses of wider spacing, but similar ages. This approach is less random than would occur naturally as short lived birch would periodically struggle against its neighbours and succumb to the competition.



Oak woodland thinned for future harvest.



By design, this intervention method is still being applied today with the intention of producing a commercial oak crop in decades to come. The added value in this being that thinning and re-spacing creates a temporarily open canopy, allowing field layer plants to flourish before giving way to more vigorous growing bramble and bracken.



Without suitable management, valuable
open habitat is lost to bracken

Dotted throughout the woodland it is possible to find a series of open glades which have come to be dominated by bracken Pteridium aquilinum; although small amounts of characteristic heath and acid grassland species still exist in a few. Common heather, or Ling Calluna vulgaris, wavy hair-grass Deschampsia flexuosa, and heath bedstraw Galium saxatile, can still be found. However, all require active management of the intense competition from bracken and tree growth in order to continue to add to the site's diversity.



Open heathy glades are valuable and rare habitats, but
require intense management to prevent their loss. Isolation
of open areas can be devastating to populations of the country's
rarest vertebrates and invertbrates.



In terms of management for biodiversity, questions need addressing as to the most effective approach for locally and nationally important species: the answers will not be popular with everyone. They may seem counterintuitive, as selected removal of noticable amounts of trees to maintain open areas, and to create connecting grassy rides can be perceived as contradicting a misconception of what nature conservation is.