Roydon Woods features
Habitats
- Ungrazed ancient woodland supporting plant species which are indicative of a long continuity of woodland cover
- Open heathland covered in heather and gorse
- Old meadows rich in flowering plants which support butterflies
- Semi improved fields 19th century dominated by oak and hazel coppice
Things to look out for
- Old boundary banks
- War time foundations beside the main access track
- Evidence of pre Victorian ploughing
- Ancient oak and beech trees
- Cattle and ponies grazing on site during the year
Wildlife Highlights
- Green, lesser and great spotted woodpeckers
- European otter
- Red deer, sika deer, fallow deer, roe deer and muntjac
- Mammals including foxes, badgers, wood mice, bank voles, hedgehogs, moles, stoats and weasels
- Over 350 species of flowering plant
- Over 120 species of lichen, some of which are very rare
- Over 900 species of fungi
Seasonal Information
Spring:
- Birds: nuthatch, long tailed tit, dartford warbler, wheatear, skylark
- Butterflies: comma, brimstone, peacock, rRed admiral, orange tip, small tortoiseshell, pearl bordered fritillary
- Dragonflies: beautiful demoiselle, banded demoiselle
- Plants: foxglove, bluebells, narrow leaved lungwort, great horsetail, alternate leaved golden saxifrage, cowslip, bog myrtle
Summer:
- Birds: night jar, tawny owl, tree pipit, hobby, chiffchaff, wood warbler, redstart, whinchat
- Butterflies: white admiral, purple emperor, silver washed fritillary, small skipper, large skipper, meadow brown, gatekeeper, Ringlet , marbled white, common blue, chalk hill blue, silver studded blue
- Dragonflies: broad bodied chaser, emperor, black tailed skimmer, southern hawker, golden ring, southern damselfly
- Plants: wood club rush, water avens, thin spike wood sedge, sundew, pale butterwort, tutsan, birds foot trefoil, devil's bit scabious, columbine, common fleabane
- Fungi: death cap, devil's fingers, weeping widow, parasol
