Jermaines Wood

Jermaines Wood is a small, sloping woodland situated between Tylers Common and the M25.  It is fundamentally an ancient, once-coppiced wet woodland, with streams running along two edges.  Nowadays, the deciduous trees, particularly Ash, seem perfectly capable of felling themselves and there is a lot of dieback and a substantial coverage of deadwood.  Perhaps this feature caused Essex County Council to restock the central part of the wood in the 1980s, but fallen wood has still persisted.  Planted trees include Dogwood (Cornus sp.) and Birch along a central ride that was mown annually, but this practice ceased possibly 10 years ago, and the ride began to scrub over. As the Essex Rangers now concentrate their efforts on nearby Weald Country Park, I have taken it upon myself, with the knowledge of ECC and the rangers, to try and keep the ride open.  This involves a lot of bramble clearing, coppicing the Dogwood and layering Hawthorn and Blackthorn.  This winter, I have opened up a small coup, as the SINC/LoWS citation notes €˜small glades as being a key feature of this woodland.  Botany isnt my strongpoint, but I have noted occasional Male Ferns and this year uncovered a straggly Harts-tongue Fern.  There are patches of Pendulous Sedge, and I believe Green-ribbed Sedge and Wavy Hair grass, both of which can be heavily grazed by the indignenous rabbit population.  There is some evidence of Muntjac Deer grazing too, so I cover up any larger stools that I have cut down.  Also present are Marsh Thistle, Teasel, Bluebell, Dogs Mercury, Cuckoo Pint, Hypericum sp. Self-Heal and increasing Moschatel. Bird species seen have been Redwing, Long-tail Tits, Chiffchaffs, Woodcock and a Treecreeper.  A single male Adder was seen in 2012. Butterflies recorded include Purple Hairstreak and White-letter Hairstreak in the few elms at the top, but most spectacularly a male Silver-washed Fritillary in 2010, probably just taking shelter during a very windy day as I have not seen one here since.