DOWN TO EARTH in The City

Lifford Woods An area of land bordering the River Rea at Allens Croft, with a pathway to Lifford Reservoir and Lifford Hall. The linear woodland runs either side of the river with willows and alders thriving. The site is little used today, with most people passing along the walkway, whilst much of the area is out of the public domain, cut off by railway embankment and the river.  In terms of wildlife, I guess this is under recorded, as are most sites, all records should be submitted to EcoRecord and twitter is a good way of doing this.  Lifford Woods and surrounds The account below is taken from "Lifford - William Dargue - A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames" B30 - Grid reference SP055796 la Ford: first record 1250 Lifford stands close to the ford across the River Rea. As the red clay on the east side of Birmingham became slimy and slippery in wet weather, a place where the river ran over a firmer bed would have been a draw ...

  Our attention now turns to trees and woodland -  The woodland season begins with an introduction to managing small wooded areas, with topics involving - coppicing (practice and theory) tools - bowsaw, billhook, axe health and safety biodiversity species identification 'crafting the woodland' managing access public relations interpretation This year's chosen coppicing plot at Highbury-  The area was chosen because of the presence of hazel, previously cut around 10-15 years ago, poor ground flora, poor structure, some regeneration, including holly, rowan and cherry. The aim is to improve species diversity by increasing light levels and introducing ground flora, such as bluebell, primrose, wild daffodil, red campion and wood melick. Coppice - To cut Coppicing  is a traditional method of  woodland management  which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the  stump  or roots if cut down.  ...