About the forest plan area

West Woods and Collingbourne Wood are located in the county of Wiltshire, with West Woods situated approximately 2 miles from the town of Marlborough, and Collingbourne less than a mile from the town of Ludgershall. Covering a combined area of 892ha, the woodlands are similar in structure and composition. Both are predominately composed of broadleaf species, and largely dominated by plantations of 1930s – 1960s beech, with small pockets of evergreen conifers found sporadically throughout. As a result of the extensive beech canopy found at both woodlands, an impressive display of bluebells can be seen in the spring, with West Woods in particular being regionally well-known in regard to its bluebell display, attracting many visitors every spring.

The vast majority of the plan area is classed as ancient woodland. As beech is considered a native species here, these woodlands score highly in regard to naturalness. However, this is slightly misleading as it does not acknowledge the uniform, monoculture-like nature of the beech stands which have been intentionally planted as such, with many sub-compartments being composed of 100% beech. Currently, broadleaves make up 88% of the plan area and conifers 9%, with the remaining 3% being open, agricultural land or car park areas. 

The formal recreation offer across this plan area is minimal, consisting of two small car parks at West Woods, one waymarked walking trail at West Woods, Public Rights of Way (PRoW) and informal footpaths within both woodlands, as well as land dedicated as open access under The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW) at West Woods. However, these woodlands provide a valuable natural space for the public to enjoy.

Whilst there are no conservation designations at either woodland, there is abundant ecological interest at both, including recorded observations of badgers, dormice, and Schedule 1 birds. There are also numerous features of heritage interest across both woodlands. West Woods is nationally notable as being the location where the sarsen stones used to build Stonehenge are now known to have originated from. In addition, West Woods is also the site of two Scheduled Monuments, one being a Neolithic long barrow, and the other being a stretch of the extensive linear earthwork known as Wansdyke. At the nearby small compartment known as Martinsell, another Scheduled Monument can be found, which is a bowl barrow dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age.

Objectives of the forest plan

• To deliver woodlands with social amenity value.
• To conserve, maintain and enhance cultural and heritage assets.
• Deliver well-designed forests that both protect and enhance the internal and external landscape, in keeping with the local landscape character.
• The diversification of woodland species and structure for greater ecological and economic resilience.
• Protect and enhance woodland and open habitats and their associated species.
• The continued production of sustainable and marketable woodland products.

What we'll do

A large proportion of the West Woods and Collingbourne Forest Plan area will be managed under low impact silvicultural systems (LISS). These include selection systems (where groups or individual trees are selected for removal, to allow light and space for natural regeneration or planting), and shelterwood systems (where remaining overstorey trees provide shelter and a seed source to facilitate the next generation of trees). 

The predominate system employed in this Forest Plan area will be a group shelterwood system. In areas managed under this system, group fellings will be integrated into thinning operations to diversify woodland composition and structure. Small (≤0.25ha) fells will be undertaken, focussing on locations where there are mature trees or regenerated saplings of a species other than beech, for example oak. This is to provide the opportunity for natural regeneration of that species to succeed, to contribute to the diversification of the largely uniform beech-dominated canopy. The gaps created will be left to naturally regenerate, with any conifer regeneration being removed. Supplementary planting of desirable broadleaf species may be carried out later in the plan period where opportunities arise.

A number of clearfells will be carried out across the Forest Plan area, for the purpose of producing sustainable timber and aiding the restoration of PAWS areas to native broadleaf cover. Where conifer stands are providing ecological benefit in terms of nesting sites for birds or aesthetic/landscape value within the woodland, these stands will be retained into the future due to these benefits that they are providing.

In addition to these operations, ongoing thinning of both conifers and broadleaves will be carried out at five to ten year intervals.

We will carry out ride-widening work in both woodlands for the benefit of wildlife. Small mammals, woodland birds, and invertebrates including butterflies and moths benefit from the increased breeding habitat and feeding opportunities which result from increased sunlight reaching the ride sides, and new vegetation and scrub growth. Furthermore, with increased sunlight reaching the ride sides, floral diversity and abundance can increase, which has knock on beneficial impacts for various other species which utilise woodland flowers.