Furzefield Wood - a local nature reserve in Hertsmere
| Distance: | Short walk: 6.5km (4 miles) rolling wooded countryside, farmland and golf course Long walk: 10km (6 miles) rolling wooded countryside, steep chalk grassland |
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| Time: | A 6km (4 mile) walk on wide grassy tracks through farmland, with fine views. |
| Getting there by bus: | Routes 90 and 91 from Hitchin and Baldock |
Route description
A traditionally managed woodland and meadow on the edge of Potters Bar
Furzefield Wood and Lower halfpenny Bottom are part of a parcel of land bought by Potters Bar Urban District Council in 1935. The King George V playing fields to the south are used for formal recreation whilst the wood and meadow are managed for wildlife. In 1998 they were declared a Local Nature Reserve.
Furze is an old name for gorse, still occasionally found on the site. Lower Halfpenny Bottom was once the route of a drovers track. The ‘halfpenny’ may refer to a fee charged to allow livestock to graze on the meadow.
Furzefield wood has been managed as coppice with standards for over 300 years. Oak grown as standards provided valuable timber whilst the hazel underwood was coppiced on rotation to provide wood every year. The hazel was cut down close to the base, encouraging the stool to produce new shoots. The shoots grow as fast and straight as they compete with the growth from neighbouring coppiced stools for light. The crop of stems would have been used predominantly for fuel and fencing.
Woodland management since the mid 1990s has been aimed at recreating the traditional habitats of coppice woodland for wildlife. The woodland has been divided into 9 coupes, or compartments, marked A-I. They are coppiced on an 8 year rotation. Other areas marked J are left to grow with minimum intervention. There is still some commercial value for coppice produce for example, as stakes and binders for hedge laying.
The oak and ash standards often have dead branches, providing a further valuable habitat for insects and the birds that feed on them. Fallen dead wood is also important for invertebrates, for example the lesser stag beetle.
Meadow management
Lower Halfpenny bottom meadow is cut once in spring and again in late summer to conserve this increasingly rare habitat. The meadow is best seen in the summer when plants such as lady’s bedstraw and meadowsweet are flowering, and insects are abundant.
Wildlife
The varied age structure and light levels of the coppice support a range of plants and animals that may once have included the dormouse. Now rare, dormice are not found in the wood but you may still see wood mice and shrews. Wood anemones, celandines and bluebells flower in springtime whilst in summer blackcaps, whitethroats and warblers may be seen or heard. Fungi and lords-and-ladies provide autumn colour.
A ditch and bank mark the ancient boundary of the wood alongside the meadow.
Rights of Way symbols you might see
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Yellow arrows indicate footpaths for pedestrian use only |
| Blue arrows indicate bridleways for horse riders, cyclists and pedestrian use only |
| Red arrows indicate Byways Open to All Traffic (BOAT) for horse riders, cyclists and pedestrians and may be legally used by other wheeled vehicles |
| Black arrows indicate Roads Used as Public Paths (RUPP) for horse riders, cyclists and pedestrians and may be legally used by other wheeled vehicles |
Maps
This map is based on Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Hertfordshire County Council 100019606 2004.
The Ordnance Survey mapping included within this web-site is provided by Hertfordshire County Council under licence from the Ordnance Survey in order to fulfill its public function to provide information relating to its activities, services and plans. Persons viewing this mapping should contact Ordnance Survey copyright for advice where they wish to license Ordnance survey mapping for their own use.
See the Ordnance Survey site for more information.
This is is one of a series of walks through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) supported by the Chilterns Conference.
Please be considerate in the countryside - keep to footpaths, especially through crops, and leave farm gates as you find them.
