Lincolnshire Limewoods Scotgrove Wood bluebells cpt Liz Fleuty, Lincs WT
The Lincolnshire Limewoods Project is a partnership aiming to protect, enhance and promote the natural and historic landscape and features of the Lincolnshire Limewoods.
an important natural resource for centuries
The project area is centred on the Bardney Limewoods National Nature Reserve, a collection of 13 woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest. While only covering 2.3% of Lincolnshire, the project area contains just over a quarter of all Lincolnshire’s ancient semi-natural woodland. These sites are one of the largest and most dense concentrations of woodland characterised by small-leaved lime surviving anywhere in the British landscape.
Being an important natural resource for centuries, these woods have been shaped by human management. From early clearances by Neolithic hunter-gatherers, to coppicing in medieval times and modern forestry in the early twentieth centuries, the wooded landscape has changed considerably. Many of these woods had become isolated and fragmented as a result of agricultural intensification.
There is an exceptional concentration of wildlife in the ancient woodlands, and a number of species can be found here that otherwise occur in Britain only much further south or west. The farmland surrounding the woods retains ancient streams, hedges and ditches, supporting scarce species of wildlife. Like the woods the network of habitats was fragmented, providing limited opportunities for wildlife to expand their range and colonise new areas.
The project partners will work together to promote and enhance the existing landscape and make these areas more accessible for the communities and visitors of Lincolnshire, so that Britain’s greatest concentration of woods dominated by small-leaved lime is fully recognised.
What’s happening?
Access
• Creating new easy-access routes at key visitor sites
• Improving visitor access to woodlands and historic sites
• Improving information for visitors
• Promoting access to the Limewoods countryside
Education and enjoyment
• Refurbishment and extension of Chambers Farm Wood Education Centre
• Development of "gateway sites" at key locations across the Limewoods
• Events, children's activities, walks and talks
• Traditional skills training and sculpture workshops
Heritage management
• Planting new woods to extend and join up the remaining ancient woodlands
• Developing a network of habitat linkages through the Limewoods Links Challenge Scheme
• Improving management of important habitats such as meadows and woodland rides
• Supporting local history projects through the Community Heritage Scheme
Start date: 2005
Scheme area: 15,500 hectares
Partners
Bardney Development Trust, East Lindsey District Council, English Heritage,
Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire, West Lindsey District Council, Woodland Trust
To find out more
Email: info@lincstrust.co.uk | Tel: 01507 526667 | Lincolnshire Limewoods
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 Adam Cormack.JPG)
