How game is your wood

A few days dedicated to woodland management in winter can yield huge rewards for game and other wildlife later in the year. To learn the skills needed to convert a cold unwelcoming wood to one that is buzzing with life, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is holding a fascinating one-day course on woodland management, which is being held at its renowned Allerton Project research farm at Loddington in Leicestershire on Thursday 12 May 2011.

The day is designed to show how to manage woodland in a way that will benefit both game and wildlife. Management tactics and grant funding will be covered to create warm woods that hold pheasants and sustain other wider fauna and flora.

The day will be run by Alex Butler, an experienced advisor with the Trust, who said, "Far too many woods in this country stand neglected, which means they are unattractive to game and their wildlife value is lost too. However, a few days dedicated to woodland management will produce excellent results and will reinvigorate drives, improve release habitats and importantly, will encourage a thriving woodland wildlife community including a wide range of woodland birds and butterflies."

Britain’s woodland has for thousands of years been an integral part of the rural economy, providing timber as fuel. Historic coppicing, pollarding and felling gave these woods their character and biodiversity. However, in order to retain this biodiversity, management for game shooting has become the driving force for managing woodland and it is this modern use that helps to maintain our important wildlife diversity.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s course ’How game are your woods’, will provide practical guidance and advice on key elements of woodland management including planting, cutting and coppicing as well as advice on the specific shrub and tree species needed to create an ideal environment for game and other wildlife.


This thought-provoking one-day course, aimed at farmers, gamekeepers, guns and beaters or anyone interested in improving their knowledge on woodland management costs £50 and runs from 10.00am to 3.30 pm. Delegates are encouraged to bring a packed lunch.