__NOTOC__ Hawkley Warren () is a

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

on the northeast-facing Wealden Edge, near the village of

Hawkley Hawkley is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 3.5 miles (5.7 km) north of Petersfield, Hampshire, Petersfield, to the west of the A3 road. The Liss railway station, ...

, three miles north of

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own Petersfield railway station, railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rai ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. The site is situated in a deep

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

combe A combe (; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill; in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through w ...

. The site is owned by

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire in England. The council was created in 1889. The county council provides county-level services to eleven of the thirteen districts geo ...

and managed as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

jointly by the council and

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is a The Wildlife Trusts partnership, Wildlife Trust with 27,000 members across the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, England. The trust describes itself as the leading local wildlife conserv ...

. The woodland glades are kept open by

coppicing Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

Site description

Beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

is the dominant tree at this site although on some of the steeper slopes,

Yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus '' Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus ...

dominates; on the deeper soils in the valley bottom the woodland has a more open canopy of

Ash Ash is the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is the ...

and

Hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

Botanical interest

The site's primary interest lies in the fact that it is one of three sites in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

where Red Helleborine ''Cephalanthera rubra'' remains; this orchid grows on a north-west facing slope.Species distribution map for Cephalanthera rubra
,

NBN Gateway NBN or nbn may refer to: Broadcasting networks * National Black Network, US radio network * National Broadcasting Network (Lebanon) * National Broadcasting Network (Trinidad and Tobago) * Nagoya Broadcasting Network, Japan * Nanjing Broadcasting ...

, retrieved 25 February 2010 The others being Workman's Wood in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

and

Windsor Hill SSSI Windsor Hill is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. It lies within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is featured in the Nature Conservation Review. A small part is ...

, a site in the Chilterns in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. The species was first found at Hawkley Warren in 1986 by K. Turner and Ralph Hollins. Brewis, Anne, Paul Bowman and

Francis Rose Francis Rose MBE (29 September 1921 – 15 July 2006) was an English field botanist and conservationist. He was an author, researcher and teacher. His ecological interests in Britain and Europe included bryophytes, fungi, lichens, higher plan ...

(1996) ''The Flora of Hampshire''

Harley Books Britain has a number of specialist entomological publishers: * Amateur Entomologists' Society (http://www.amentsoc.org/) publishes various entomological handbooks, as well as the ''Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists' Society''. * British Wild ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Other

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

species found growing under beech at this site include

Bird's-nest Orchid ''Neottia nidus-avis'', the bird's-nest orchid, is a non-photosynthetic orchid, native to Europe, Russia, with sporadic presence in North-Africa, and some parts of the Middle East. Description ''Neottia nidus-avis'' grows to tall and each sh ...

Early Purple Orchid ''Orchis mascula'', the early-purple orchid, early spring orchis, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Description ''Orchis mascula'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with stems up to high, green at the base and ...

and Narrow-leaved Helleborine; Spurge-laurel is also found.

Ramsons ''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family, Ama ...

is found in the valley bottom and

Herb Paris ''Paris quadrifolia'', the herb Paris or true lover's knot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in temperate and cool areas throughout Eurasia, from Spain to Yakutia, and from Iceland to Mongolia. It prefers ...

is also found here.

Invertebrates

The Mountain Bulin

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

''Ena montana'' occurs here.

References

{{coord, 51.05032, N, 0.95993, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SU730284), display=title Forests and woodlands of Hampshire Nature reserves in Hampshire