The Woodland Trust (WT) and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) have declared that the primary reason for the recent culling of mature beech in Coed Aber Artro was to encourage the regeneration of Atlantic Oak Woodland as part of the Meirionydd Oakwoods Habitat Management Project. The need is arguable; however, with their declarations in mind, it would be useful to note what is actually apparent on the ground within Coed Aber Artro.
Coed Aber Artro at the time of the felling Photo: Stephen Coll
If you follow the public footpath east from Llanbedr, on through the WT area and beyond to the Cefn Uchaf campsite, the woodland comprising Coed Aber Artro can be broadly divided into five sectors.
1. The first sector ( from Llanbedr up to the western boundary of the WT holding) comprises primarily oak and beech, with holly, rowan and ash and with sycamore increasingly encroaching from the Llanbedr end. It is not grazed and the thick undergrowth is largely bramble. There are no obvious signs of recent management. It appears to be an excellent example of uncontrolled regeneration, predominantly beech and sycamore with rowan, ash and holly well established; all at the expense of oak, which is poorly represented at both sapling and seedling stages.
2. The second sector starts within the WT boundary and extends to a point just short of the tarmac road which roughly bisects the WT acreage approx. NS. Here the wood is predominantly oak with some beech of varying maturity. The majority of the oak appears to be of much the same age – at a guess not much in excess of 100 – 150 years old. The same is true of the beech though there are one or two more venerable trees which may be older. Subsequent growth would seem to be the result of natural rather than managed regeneration. There is a substantial mixed undergrowth. Current regeneration in the form of saplings and seedlings is largely beech, rowan and holly with only some oak represented. So far there has been minimal WT intervention in this sector.
3. The third sector begins before the tarmac road and extends to the WT’s east boundary. Here it is predominantly mature beech interspersed with medium to mature oak. There is little ground cover, except at this time of year when there are discrete areas defining a rich and dense carpet of bluebells.
The ground here has been heavily disturbed by the recent WT culling operations. Conveniently this activity provides a good opportunity to see the extent of this year’s regeneration. In an area selectively cleared of mature beech by the WT specifically to allow for the uninhibited regeneration of oak, not a single oak seedling is apparent. There are hundreds of rowan, many beech and a significant number of holly. Beech maintains an uninterrupted cycle and the berry trees, rowan and holly are over-represented, despite few immediate candidates as parent trees.
4. The fourth sector is immediately east of the WT boundary and is an area of mature oak and beech, bordered by the reservoir below and by pasture above. This area is continually grazed by sheep and, where accessible, by cattle. There is no undergrowth apart from bracken and thin grazing and absolutely no seedlings or saplings of any species.
5. The fifth sector is defined by a wall and by recent stock-proof fencing. This area takes in mature woodland and old pasturage and extends down to the river’s edge just short of the campsite. Regeneration is well established and comprises large numbers of densely packed birch, rowan and holly and discrete groupings of oak saplings within areas of the old pasturage, which now also supports undisturbed, a rich variety of ground flora. By mid May there were innumerable oak, rowan and birch seedlings with some holly. There were no beech seedlings.
Thus, of the five areas within the woodland accessed along the public footpath, the most successful, in terms of the regeneration of oak, are not to be found in the WT area, but outside where management is at a minimum or non-existent – namely the first sector where oak fights its way amongst many other species, and the fifth sector, where livestock has been deliberately excluded and where the success of the regeneration is palpable. In the third sector, WT management to encourage oak regeneration appears, at least in the immediate term, to be singularly unsuccessful.
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