Community Wood

About

The Community Woodland near the Basins and Wellington Sports Centre is a nature reserve, with a wildlife pond, boggy wetland area filled with beautiful stands of purple loosestrife every spring, and a natural mixed deciduous woodland area along the culvert adjoining the Wellington Rugby Club.

The Community Woodland project to develop the green meadow beyond the Basin’s Nature Reserve was supported by the local councils. The idea was to develop the green meadow beyond the Basins Nature Reserve into an area of native woodland. This being to improve the environment, encourage wildlife and provide residents and visitors with an additional walk. The footbridge at the recreation field end of the site was paid for and installed by Somerset Council and is suitable of wheelchairs and buggies. 280 trees and shrubs were planted during National Tree Week in 2008.

This area is maintained both by the Basins Volunteers Group and Transition Town Wellington, who look after the many fruit bushes and trees that have been planted there.

Directions

Access is by foot via the sports centre car park TA21 8LL. Head for the entrance to the sports centre building, then follow the path to the left, past the skate park on your right. The path forks to go past the pond; the first left takes you to the blueberry bushes and aronias, the second left takes you to the fruit trees, both are in the same field. What3words: otters.different.gravy.

Design

There is a roughly circular walking route around the woodland, leading from the entrance near the Sports Centre. Keeping to the left, you will follow the raised walkway, alongside the wildlife pond and across the marshy area which can get very muddy during the winter months. Along the pathway to the right are blueberry bushes and aronia. At the far end is a wooden bridge across the culvert leading to the recreation grounds.

As you follow the pathway round to the right, you’ll see some BMX/pump track bumps that were created in 2020 for local kids to cycle over and play on. There are also apple, pear, cherry and bullace free to harvest for everyone in the community.

Bird boxes have been placed in many of the trees and dormice boxes to check for activity. It is a popular dog-walking route for many.

Implementation

Following the initial planting in 2008, further planting of Phases 2, 3, and 4 took place in the winter of 2009/10. Then in November 2011, as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II, members of the community gathered to plant a further 100 seedling trees. Then in 2015-16, TTW volunteers planted varieties of apple, pear and cherry trees at the edges of the densely-planted native woodland in the central area. Blueberry and aronia bushes were also planted at this time, and scythed around and mulched. The Basins Volunteer Group and the council keep the paths regularly mown and maintained, and look after the wildlife pond and surrounding areas.

Ash dieback disease affected some of the small number of ash trees. Those trees were felled and the roots dug up to prevent coppice shoots developing from the roots.

Biodiversity

Water beetles, newts and pond creatures have been spotted in and around the wildlife pond. The pond and culvert linking this area to the leat and the Basins have seen water vole activity, although there are no signs here of a resident colony.

Birds are seen in abundance: chiffchaff, robins, wrens, sparrow, jay, jackdaw, woodpigeon, stock dove, blackcaps, blackbirds and song thrushes as well as blue tits and great tits. Foxes, rabbits and field mice are often seen especially in the nearby playing fields.

iNaturalist Bioblitz (Coming soon)

2016

Acquired

13,365m²

Size

Plants Added

Plant Species

Existing Mature Trees

15x Acer campestre (Field Maple)
15x Betula pendula (Birch)
20x Cornus snaguineum (Dogwood)
25x Corylus avellana (Hazel)
25x Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn)
20x Euonymus europaeus (Spindle)
20x Quercus robur (Oak)
10x Malus sylvestris (Crab aple)
20x Prunus avian (Wild cherry)
20x Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn)
20x Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan)
25x Viburnum lantana (Wayfaring tree)
25x Viburnum opulus (Guelder rose)

Added Trees (Large)

Added Trees (Medium)

Added Shrubs

Planting Plan

The Community Wood is just by the Leisure Centre and has a path connecting it to The Basins. Originally it was a meadow, but was planted with native trees in 2008 and then food-providing trees have been added more recently by TTW. The area was originally known as Moor Field and once the woodland was started it was renamed Moor Wood. It contains a variety of mature trees and typical woodland undergrowth. In addition there are the fruit trees and bushes added by TTW. The whole area is quite low lying and it can be wet underfoot, especially in wet weather. There is also a small wildlife pond. Following the path take you in a circular route around the wood.

Being the corridor linking the Basins Nature Reserve with the Recreation Ground and Wellington Park, the Community Woodland rapidly became popular with walkers and also birdwatchers. Considering the large number of people visiting the area, instances of vandalism were fortunately relatively rare. The mature trees lining the stream channel provided a habitat for a variety of bird species, including the song thrush. It was hoped that as the new woodland areas matured, they would provide an enhanced habitat for a range of creatures.