Until the felling began the Commons were a happy mixture of woodland, grass and heather. The main target of the felling has been Silver Beech trees which have been portrayed as foreign villains. Neither adjective is correct. They are a native species that grow naturally on poor soils. The Rangers say that they need to be felled to allow heather and other heathland species to grow. In fact:
“Heather and Bilberry are among the plants that thrive on acid soils colonised by birch.
The light shade that birch cast encourages the growth of many other plants, too.” (Readers Digest Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain).
The latest work by the Rangers has damaged the vegetation, the bird life, the fungi and the mammals. The remains of the trees are left piled up by the paths. The mowing of the central areas has uprooted and killed heather that they are supposedly trying to encourage and the building of the new path destroyed most of the gorse which again is a heathland species.
Razor Strop and Bracket Fungus live on birch stems that have died naturally, whilst the Fly Agaric lives on the roots of the living tree. All of these will be lost.
Roe Deer feed on the young birch. The Rangers sprayed a trial felled area with pesticide after which many small mammals were found dead in that area.
The heather reseeding trial has been a total failure as can be seen in this photograph, but still they go ahead with the felling.
Birds have lost both nesting sites and feeding areas. The long-tailed tits are no longer seen by the top car park, because their favoured trees there have been felled. The rangers own notice board boasts of nuthatches nesting in the silver birch trees that they themselves are happily destroying.
It is worth reading the following articles on the subject:
http://www.self-willed-land.org.uk/articles/swineholes_wood.htm
www.self-willed-land.org.uk/articles/woodland_wildflowers.htm