JOINED-UP WOODLANDS GRANT FOR BRAYDON FOREST

The Braydon Forest has been targeted to receive more than £625,000 over five years as part of a Forestry Commission drive aimed at piecing together fragments of broadleaved (or “semi-natural”) woodland by planting links between them. The grant could be very good news for wildlife in the ancient royal hunting forest, which has suffered from the fragmentation of the wooded areas.

The grant scheme, part of a £5 million nationwide initiative, is called the 
JIGSAW (Joining and Increasing Grant Scheme for Ancient Woodlands) 
Challenge.

Larger areas of woodland can support a greater variety of wildlife, so 
forging links between existing woods can enhance the wildlife value of an area. In the Braydon Forest, which covers an area of 55 square miles between Malmesbury and Swindon, more woodland could mean a better chance for rare butterflies such as the silver-washed fritillary, white admiral and brown hairstreak, and for plants like the greater butterfly orchid, according to Paul Darby, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Braydon Forest Project Officer.

The Trust is urging landowners in the Braydon Forest area to take up the 
grant, and offering assistance in making a bid: “If you own land next to or very near to existing native (broadleaved) woodland, and would like to extend the wood or, better still, create a link between two or more existing woods, then Jigsaw Challenge money could pay for it”, Paul explained, adding that the land put forward for the scheme should not have existing archaeological or wildlife interest that would be damaged by tree planting.

At the JIGSAW Challenge launch in early September, Elliott Morley, England’s Forestry Minister said: “The Forestry Commission’s JIGSAW Challenge will bring important benefits to England’s landscape, to the wild plants and animals that need native woodlands to live in, and to the long-term futures of the woodlands themselves. Many of our ancient and semi-natural woodlands are isolated fragments of the natural woodlands that existed before the land was converted to other uses.

Because of this isolation and fragmentation, the ecological viability of these woods and the long-term survival of the plants and animals that depend on them are threatened.”

The Forestry Commission points out that “Semi-natural woodlands are extremely important ecologically and historically because they can often trace a link directly back to the wildwood that covered much of Great Britain after the retreat of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago. Populations of many species with poor dispersing abilities are confined to such sites and are becoming increasingly isolated, and consequently are vulnerable to local extinction.”

Landowners can receive help in putting a bid together from any of the 
following organisations, as well as advice and an explanatory leaflet:

Forestry Commission: tel (01672) 511767
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust , Paul Darby, Braydon Forest Project Officer: tel (01380) 
725670
Great Western Community Forest: tel (01793) 466324

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