The Woodland
Wind your way through the woods to the newly created woodland garden, set in a natural bowl with a mature felled beech tree at its heart – perfect for practising your balancing skills!
Relax and enjoy the dappled shade and the calls of birds; taking in the views across the ha-ha to the Tywi Valley.
the woodland garden
The new woodland garden area at Bishop’s Park lies at the edge of the main woodland and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. This now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the ha-ha and the flood plain meadow where visitors can sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the Tywi Valley and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being in woodland.
New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes enhance the native flora and fauna and benefit woodland wildlife here.
woodland flora
The woodland at Bishop’s Park contains a range of large mature trees of various native and non-native tree species and has a near complete canopy cover – perfect for woodland bathing! And great for wildlife too. Sadly, heavily impacted by ash-dieback all of the ash trees across the Bishop’s Park have had to be felled. Native species now include beech, pedunculate oak, alder, holly and non-natives include holm oak, horse chestnut and some conifers such as Japanese larch.
managing woodland for wildlife
We’ve removed some of the non-native invasive species of rhododendron and Portuguese and cherry laurel from the understorey as the heavy shade they cast was bad news for the native ground flora. Where areas have previously been cleared of invasive shrubs we can see a much denser ground flora including spring flowers such as bluebells and wood anemone as well as cleavers, enchanter’s nightshade, red campion, pendulous sedge, woody nightshade, and tall ruderal species including common nettle, spear thistle, creeping thistle and great willowherb. Ivy, mosses and ferns, including hart’s tongue and hard shield fern can also be found here, along with some hairy woodrush and primrose.
AT THE WOODLAND EDGES
At the western edge of the woodland the canopy is more open, with less dense shading and invasive shrub cover and the diversity of the ground flora here reflects this. Here you can find common coarse grasses like yorkshire fog, creeping bent and cock’s-foot along with common nettle, broad-leaved dock , sparse bramble and common woodland wildflowers including herb Robert, wood avens, red campion, germander speedwell, cow parsley and some bluebell. Shrubs include snowberry, rhododendron and wild blackcurrant with some laurel regrowth and native tree seedlings.
At the very far eastern end of the site survives a semi-natural broad-leaved woodland with pedunculate oak, sycamore, and hawthorn. The understorey is fairly thick and comprising bramble with herb Robert and red campion. This area is likely to contain a better invertebrate assemblage, while birds are much more common here – with much improved nesting opportunities within brambly ground/shrub layer as well as tree canopy. We’ve spotted wren, robin, greenfinch, woodpigeon, blackbird and dunnock. What will you spot?
The Woodland
Wind your way through the woods to the newly created woodland garden, set in a natural bowl with a mature felled beech tree at its heart – perfect for practising your balancing skills!
the woodland garden
The new woodland garden area at Bishop’s Park lies at the edge of the main woodland and was first opened up 5 years ago when a mature beech tree had to be felled due to fungus making the tree unstable. This now forms an attractive sheltered open area in a natural bowl, looking out across the ha-ha and the flood plain meadow where visitors can sit and enjoy the plantings with the backdrop of the Tywi Valley and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being in woodland.
New ornamental shrubs, small trees and spring-flowering bulbs and the introduction of bird and bat boxes enhance the native flora and fauna and benefit woodland wildlife here.
woodland flora
The woodland at Bishop’s Park contains a range of large mature trees of various native and non-native tree species and has a near complete canopy cover – perfect for woodland bathing! And great for wildlife too. Sadly, heavily impacted by ash-dieback all of the ash trees across the Bishop’s Park have had to be felled. Native species now include beech, pedunculate oak, alder, holly and non-natives include holm oak, horse chestnut and some conifers such as Japanese larch.
We’ve removed some of the non-native invasive species of rhododendron and Portuguese and cherry laurel from the understorey as the heavy shade they cast was bad news for the native ground flora. Where areas have previously been cleared of invasive shrubs we can see a much denser ground flora including spring flowers such as bluebells and wood anemone as well as cleavers, enchanter’s nightshade, red campion, pendulous sedge, woody nightshade, and tall ruderal species including common nettle, spear thistle, creeping thistle and great willowherb. Ivy, mosses and ferns, including hart’s tongue and hard shield fern can also be found here, along with some hairy woodrush and primrose.
AT THE WOODLAND EDGES
At the western edge of the woodland the canopy is more open, with less dense shading and invasive shrub cover and the diversity of the ground flora here reflects this. Here you can find common coarse grasses like yorkshire fog, creeping bent and cock’s-foot along with common nettle, broad-leaved dock , sparse bramble and common woodland wildflowers including herb Robert, wood avens, red campion, germander speedwell, cow parsley and some bluebell. Shrubs include snowberry, rhododendron and wild blackcurrant with some laurel regrowth and native tree seedlings.
At the very far eastern end of the site survives a semi-natural broad-leaved woodland with pedunculate oak, sycamore, and hawthorn. The understorey is fairly thick and comprising bramble with herb Robert and red campion. This area is likely to contain a better invertebrate assemblage, while birds are much more common here – with much improved nesting opportunities within brambly ground/shrub layer as well as tree canopy. We’ve spotted wren, robin, greenfinch, woodpigeon, blackbird and dunnock. What will you spot?