Lady Park Wood National Nature Reserve

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Overview

Lady Park Wood NNR is part of a large woodland complex in the Wye Valley, straddling the border between England and Wales northeast of Monmouth. The reserve is a prime example of unmanaged, semi-natural woodland. Beside common trees like beech, oak, ash, wych elm and birch, the site is also home to both small-leaved and large-leaved lime, in addition to a rare species of whitebeam. The shrub layer is dominated by hazel but also includes dogwood, spindle, hawthorn, privet and holly. Ground cover consists of dog’s mercury and bramble but other plants include wood barley, fingered sedge, wild madder, bird’s-nest orchid, toothwort, lily of the valley and herb Paris. Lady Park Wood has a rich breeding bird community which includes all three woodpeckers, redstart, wood warbler, tawny owl, pied flycatcher and tree creeper. A variety of rare bats have been recorded in the NNR, in particular greater and lesser horseshoe bats, which are found here in significant numbers.

Location

Little Doward

About the area

In their bid to control the borderlands of Monmouthshire – also known as the Marches – the Normans built a triangle of castles: Grosmont, Skenfrith and White. At first, they were simple wooden structures strengthened by earthworks, but when the lively Welsh refused to stop attacking them, it was decided more permanent fortresses were needed.