Wolves Wood 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 ...

near Hadleigh,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. It is one of 7

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 i ...

areas within Suffolk. An ancient woodland is defined as a site that has been continuously occupied by woodland from the year 1600 or before.

Overview

Wolves Wood is managed by the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

using

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 ...

and is located six miles from

Ipswich railway station Ipswich railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line in the East of England, serving the town of Ipswich, Suffolk. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and, on the main line, it is situated between to the south and to the n ...

, north east of Hadleigh.The RSPB: Wolves Wood
/ref> It is on the A1071, Ipswich Road. The wood has an area of 38.4 hectares and it is part of the Hintlesham Woods biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, and

Nature Conservation Review ''A Nature Conservation Review'' is a two-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1977. It set out to identify the most important places for nature conservation in Great Britain. It is often known by the initi ...

site, Grade I.

Flora and fauna

Plant species include

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

. It is home to roe deer, twelve species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

and

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...

while bird species found in the woods include the

Garden Warbler The garden warbler (''Sylvia borin'') is a common and widespread small bird that breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to western Siberia. It is a plain, long-winged and long-tailed typical warbler with brown upperparts and dull white ...

, the

Great Spotted Woodpecker The great spotted woodpecker (''Dendrocopos major'') is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found acros ...

, the

Marsh Tit The marsh tit (''Poecile palustris'') is a Eurasian passerine bird in the tit family Paridae and genus ''Poecile'', closely related to the willow tit, Père David's and Songar tits. It is a small bird, around long and weighing , with a black ...

, the

Nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, ...

and the

Sparrowhawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the subfamily Accipitrinae The Accipitrinae are the Family (biology), subfamily of the Accipitridae often known as the "true" hawks. The subfamily contains 73 s ...

Facilities

Wolves Wood has a mile-long circular nature trail, car parking for 15 cars and a single Sheffield stand for cycles (being near a

Sustrans Sustrans ( ) is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United ...

cycle route.)

Suffolk

The other six ancient woodlands in Suffolk are as follows: * Arger Fen and Spouses Grove * Assington Thicks * Bradfield Woods *

Bull's Wood Bull's Wood is a 12 hectare nature reserve east of Cockfield in Suffolk, England. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and is part of the Thorpe Morieux Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest. Flora in this wood include early-purple ...

* Snakes Wood * Staverton Park-Butley

References

{{coord, 52.056, 0.995, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:2000, display=title Forests and woodlands of Suffolk Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in England Babergh District