Woodland project: Bowyers Wood

Our Bowyers Wood project brings together a collection of smaller woodlands that have been managed in different ways over time, but which have very high conservation value. At the moment, it consists of around 250 acres of woods with some scrubland, situated about 30 miles from the coast in East Sussex.

The most exciting thing happening at Bowyers Wood is that – if all goes to plan – it will become the home of a family of beavers. Part of this woodland provides the ideal habitat for these animals, and we’re planning to build a 27-acre enclosure for them to live in (as seen in blue on the satellite image above). However, before we’ll be allowed to reintroduce them, we need to apply to Natural England for a licence – so watch this space.

Bowyers Wood contains some very valuable ancient semi-natural woodland dating back 400 years or more. However, in some areas the indigenous British trees were felled to make way for a non-native conifer plantation. These elements will be removed, and we’ll encourage native woodland to reclaim the space through regeneration and planting where necessary.

There’s evidence that chestnut was grown for coppicing here, and we’re considering whether to revive the practice or allow these spaces to continue rewilding. Some areas of Bowyers Wood are open ground, which we’ll use to create a scrub and grassland edge to the woods, attracting insects, birds, reptiles and mammals which will increase wildlife diversity across the project.

In future, with the help of our customers, we hope to purchase another 400 acres at this site – including adjacent woods and agricultural land – to create a bigger, more stable biome so that wildlife can thrive.

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