13. Londonthorpe Wood, Lincolnshire

Woodland Walks - The Woodland Trust Podcast

Londonthorpe Wood has been a haven for wildlife and people for 30 years. Colourful meadows and lush grassland open out amidst trees both old and new, where butterflies, grass snakes, wildflowers and woodpeckers all live. Now the Woodland Trust and National Trust are working together to make it even more appealing and accessible. Project manager Heather Cook tells us all about it, including what’s been achieved so far, how local people have been involved, prioritising nature, history and visitors’ wellbeing, and plans for the future.

We also hear from Edd, a volunteer wildlife monitor, on what surveying involves, which species he’s spotted and the excitement of seeing hundreds of butterflies in a single day.

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Transcript

You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust, presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive.

Adam: Well today I'm going off to Londonthorpe Wood. And the clue is in the name, it is a hop skip and a jump from London. In fact, well it's very close to Grantham. In fact, I think it's the closest woodland to the Woodland Trust headquarters in Grantham. Now the woodland is about 190 acres big. It's got wildflower meadows, broadleaf and mature woodland. It's got a whole bunch of wildlife and lush open grassland as well. So, it's a very mixed site indeed. And part of the purpose of this site is that the Woodland Trust has been working with the National Trust, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to link Londonthorpe Wood and a place called Bellmount, which is the eastern part of the Belton House estate, which is rather grand and very nice. And it really gives a lot more accessible green space on the edge of Grantham to help people experience nature right on their doorstep. And what I'm really looking forward to – look – the place is filled with an abundance of butterflies. There's grassland areas, you might even see a grass snake. There's the great spotted woodpecker and even, you might see, a kestrel. Interestingly, also cattle are also put to work on the site as part of a program of conservation grazing. Of course, you don't see all of that at this time of year, but you never know what I might find. There's ash, there's oak, there's horse chestnut, there's beech, there's rowan, there's… oh I don't know!... sycamore, there's a whole bunch of stuff and I'm going to meet one of the Woodland Trust staff who's responsible for really bringing the site together. Heather: So, my name is Heather Cook and I am the project manager on this, reconnecting Grantham to its historic landscape project. Adam: Right, so, Heather I have to say, I left London, it was pouring down, I’m wearing my warmest clothes and get to Grantham and the weather is lovely. So, I apologise if I'm going to be very sweaty during this walk [Laughter], I’ve come overly dressed, overly dressed. Anyway, we are in Grantham very near the Woodland Trust headquarters, so this must be the nearest woodland to the Woodland Trust. Heather: It is. Adam: Why is this so important? Heather: So, well, because Londonthorpe Wood, as you say, is closest to our head office, but it's also situated right next to a beautiful historic landscape at Belton House. And erm so, the project that we're working on here is really about reconnecting the landscape. So… Adam: So, what does reconnecting the landscape actually mean? Heather: So, Londonthorpe Wood, Londonthorpe the site was originally part of the original Brownlow estate. I mean it was sold off years ago, Woodland Trust planted it up as a woodland, but it was very separate then from the Belton Estate. Adam: Right. Heather: So, we are now working in partnership with the National Trust on this project and opening up access for the people of Grantham. So, they've now got access to the entire landscape to the east of Belton House and Londonthorpe Wood. Adam: And when you talk about reconnecting the landscape then, is that reconnecting pockets of ecology so that nature has a bigger place to thrive? Or is it about sort of connecting a lovely house with a lovely bit of greenery so people can wander around? Heather: It's a bit of both. So, it's mostly to do with the physically reconnecting the two sites, so it's not actually connecting to the Belton House park, it's a section of Belton House that sits to the east of their estate where the Bellmount Tower is. It's freely accessible, there's no paved area. People can come in. So, it's a physical connection – we've opened up kissing gates and put in a bridge and all of that between the two sites. But then also very much around improving biodiversity, opening access from a wildlife point of view as well. Adam: And how long has that project been going on for then? Heather: So, the development phase was a few years, but the actual delivery of the project started just over two years ago. Adam: And what have you managed to achieve then? Heather: [Laughter] Adam: Sorry, that wasn't my inner Jeremy Paxman [laughter] ‘come on and justify what you've done!’ No, no, so what has actually happened there? Heather: So, I think one of the biggest things you can see physically on the site is that we have majorly upgraded the car park. It was a small, very wobbly, difficult-to-get-around, little car park and we have upgraded that with a beautiful, big overflow space for when we have events. But I think the most exciting part for me is that we've been able to put the surface path in. So that has opened up the site to a much bigger group of people. It used to be that people would drive in, park their car, 20 minutes around the park with their dogs, back in the car and off they went. Whereas now we've got people in mobility scooters, baby buggies, wheelchairs coming to the site because it’s surfaced and relatively level. It makes, that obviously makes it a lot easier. And also, in the winter this section that we're in now, it can get incredibly muddy and that puts off a lot of new users who aren't used to that. So, it makes it very much more accessible. Adam: I mean, it's interesting. I mean, this is a very, you know, well-kept path, a lovely path which we don't often see or don't always see in woodlands and you've clearly gone to a lot of effort to improve access. Is there a sort of tension between your duty to safeguard the natural world and your duty to allow access, to encourage people to engage with it? Heather: Absolutely. It's, one of our big sort of priorities for the project is to create, to find that balance. Adam: Is there a trade-off? I mean, I mean, I just wonder whether that's an easy balance to achieve or do you have to lose on one side to gain on the other? Heather: I don't think so. You know, Londonthorpe is not an ancient woodland, it's… this we're walking through now was planted in the early 1990s, so it's about 30 years old. So, it hasn't, you know, we weren't doing any damage necessarily to anything. I can't say it wasn't of value, it is of value, but it's not, we weren't losing anything dramatic. It was… we were quite careful when we put the paths in, they were all… these, you know, through the woodland sections were no dig, so, it's not disturbing any of the tree roots, you can see them right up against the path. So no, I don't think it has been too much of a battle. Adam: and encouraging people to engage in woodlands and places like this – what is your hope? I mean, I mean, it's a very nice sort of thing for people to do to wander around. There's no charge, especially in these days – that's a lovely free thing for the family to do… go in, you know, investigate a Woodland Trust wood. But do you think there's a greater purpose in trying to encourage that engagement? Heather: I think so, I think one of the things that we found so interesting was that, you know, our project actually got off the ground right as the pandemic started. But during the development phase we had done some number count… you know, some people counters on the site counting how many people are coming through and during the pandemic, those numbers more than doubled. And I think that what we have found… you hear it all over the show… the value and the benefit of wildlife to people's mental health and I think that that has, that's a very big deal for us, is that, there's not a lot of green space available in Grantham and it's, a big part of our project is trying to tell people that we’re here, that it's free to visit and that it's a huge benefit to them in so many ways. Adam: Well, we've just come out of this woodland area very densely packed woodland area to a lovely sort of open, open bit, which is fantastic. I mean, tell me a bit about the landscape here and the sort of different varieties we're seeing. Heather: So, it's one of the things that I love so much about the site is that every 10 minutes you walk into a different landscape [laughter] it changes all the time. But just to our right on that side of the site is where the Belton estate is and when we get around the corner, you'll see that this landscape is very similar to that and it was actually planted, as I mentioned in the 1990s, to reflect that landscape. So that's why we've got these big open grassland areas, some more densely packed woodland. Further on in the south, there's a lot of scrubland. So very much trying to keep it in keeping with the Belton estate. Adam: And how important, you talked about trying to offer this as a facility for the local community. How, how engaged are they? Heather: Very much more since we've done the… made the changes to the site. As I said, we've seen the numbers go up a lot. We've had a really, really positive response to the changes. And our project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, so we've got two full-time staff on the project, me being one of them. And we've got a community development officer on the site as well. And a large part of his job is to promote the project in the town, engage with community groups, invite them out to show them what we've got and so that, that's making a big difference, that people, more people know about it. Adam: And in terms of local volunteers, is there a sort of army of people willing to come and help or is that is that just a hope at the moment? Heather: No, we've got a group, a couple of groups are really, really engaged fantastic volunteers. So, we've got a group that do guided walks for us. So, they do different themed walks. We do walk from the Belton House to Bellmount Tower on a regular basis and we do military history walks. And then we've also got a really active group of wildlife monitor volunteers. So, they've been monitoring birds, butterflies, doing transects all over the site. Adam: And are we meeting someone who's one of those volunteers? Heather: Yes, that's Edd! Edd Cullen. He's been with us now, I think he'll probably have to tell you, but about a few months now. Adam: Right. So early start. [laughter] Early start. Fresh blood, fresh blood. Well, look and to the left, well, that looks like a golf course or something. It's a very well-manicured bit of land… maybe not a golf course, is that just someone’s private garden? Heather: No, that's also part of the Belton House estate. It is a golf course. They’re on a long-term lease. Adam: Right, okay. Fantastic. Well, I'm gonna go off and meet Edd who is just lurching. He's not lurching. He's lurking. That was the word I was looking for. He's lurking. He's lurking by a tree down the path here. Edd, who is one of the volunteers. I’m going to talk to him about the work that they do here. Pause Hi. So, you're one of the volunteers. Is that right? Edd: I am yeah. Adam: So, what do you volunteer with? What, what do you do? Edd: Well so, currently this year we've been doing weekly butterfly surveys and monthly bird surveys. So, each, each week we come to do a butterfly survey. It's just the end of the season now that's finished. But we carry on with the monthly bird surveys throughout the year. Hopefully in the future when we get more volunteers, we’ll look to expand that to dragonfly surveys or nesting birds, breeding territories, and that sort of thing. Adam: And how do you do those surveys? I mean, is it literally just wandering around going oh that’s a nice butterfly? [Laughter] Edd: For the butterfly survey we follow a set route around the… transect around the site, made up of several legs, and we walk along, and we observe 2.5 metres either side of us and monitor and note any butterflies we see as we go along the, along, along the transect. We walk at a steady pace and go all the way around and see what we find in each leg. Adam: Butterflies are quite small. I mean, how difficult is it [Laughter] I mean I do see a butterfly, but I think if I went out looking for one, I probably wouldn't find one. How hard is it actually? Edd: It's quite tricky to begin with. But then you sort of after a while, you know what to look for certain flowers they like to be around and certain movements you see near the vegetation. So, after a while, you do sort of get the hang of it. Adam: And did you know this site before the Woodland Trust sort of got heavily involved. Edd: I've been here quite a lot before, before I became a volunteer, and I really liked to, enjoyed walking around it. So now I'm a volunteer here. It's quite good to be able to have a reason to visit every week. And even if we don't see many butterflies, it's still a nice walk. Adam: Have you noticed much of a change in the landscape here in the past few years or indeed how many butterflies and birds you've managed to see? Edd: Well, I've just been doing it, this is my first year volunteering. Volunteers tell me this year butterfly numbers were lower than they had been in previous years. So, I'm not quite sure if that's due to the climate or, or something like that, but in peak season, when we were doing the surveys, I think the most we saw was a couple of hundred on the transect, but it can be much more than that. Adam: Wow, sorry, I thought you were going to go, oh I saw ten! Over a couple of hundred butterflies! Edd: Yeah, we can do on the busiest days. Yeah. Adam: Okay. That's very cool. Why did you get involved as a volunteer? What attracted you to that? Edd: Well, my goal is to work in the conservation sector, and I recently graduated from doing a master’s degree in biodiversity conservation. So, I was looking to get some more experience doing some sort of hands-on survey work. Adam: What would you say to other people who are listening to this and say oh I quite fancy spotting butterflies? I mean, what would you say about the joys of doing that or whether that's something you'd recommend? Edd: Oh yeah, I definitely recommend it! It's really, really enjoyable, and it's always exciting when you see a species you haven't seen before. There's quite a few different ones. Yeah, it's always really exciting. Adam: And how did you apply then? You just went to the website, or you stood outside headquarters? Edd: Well, I saw information about the reconnecting project on social media. So, I emailed to find out more, see if there's any volunteering going on. And I got an email back saying that there's a wildlife monitoring team and I thought that sounds great. It sounds just like I want to do. So yeah, I got, I got involved. Adam: So, if you're interested, have a look at the website and follow them on Twitter and… Edd: Yeah, absolutely Adam: Brilliant. But in terms of butterflies then are there any, any special to this site, or do you have favourites? Edd: I'm not sure there's any that's special to this site, but my favourite I've seen is the painted lady. I've seen quite a few of those this year. They're really really, really vibrant. Really really nice to see. I saw quite a few species though… about… I think about a dozen species I’ve seen so far. We’ve had small and Essex skippers and common butterflies, red admiral, common blue. So, lots of different kinds. Adam: Did you have to learn what those butterflies were? Did you come fully armed with butterfly knowledge? Edd: Well, my butterfly knowledge… didn't have… wasn't extensive when I started. But luckily I'm paired up with a more experienced volunteer and was able to learn a lot from them and learn more as I go as I spot them, and doing it every week you see the same butterflies every week, and you sort of pick up what species they are. Adam: Brilliant. Well Edd, thank you very much. I'm gonna leave Edd there and go back to Heather for, sort of, a final word really on what she hopes the future for this site will hold. Heather: So, the project runs for four… is gonna run for four years. We've got another two years left on the project and we hope that by the time we get to the end of the National Lottery Heritage Fund funding that that will, we will have engaged really successfully with a number of community groups in the town. So, my hope really is that that will continue indefinitely after the life of the project and that this will become a really special valued place for the people of Grantham. Adam: Well, it's lovely, lovely. And lovely weather as ever on these walks. I'm always blessed with good weather… shouldn't jinx it. But thank you Heather, that's brilliant. Thank you Heather, thank you very much. Heather: Thank you. Adam: Do remember you can find a wood near you by looking at the Woodland Trust website, which is woodlandtrust.org.uk/findawood, or indeed you can just type in find a wood into your search engine of choice and it will direct you to that Woodland Trust page. But until next time and another wood somewhere in the country I look forward to walking with you then. Until then, happy wandering.

Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Join us next month when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff, partners, and volunteers and don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes, or wherever you're listening to us, and do give us a review and a rating. And why not send us a recording of your favourite woodland walk to be included in a future podcast? Keep it to a maximum of five minutes and please tell us what makes your woodland walks special. Or send an email with details of your favourite walk and what makes it special to you. Send any audio files to [e-mail] and we look forward to hearing from you.