With reference to the article and letter from Ingrid Barton, dated January 31, East Riding of Yorkshire Council would like to make the following response.
Botanically speaking, Milling-ton Wood is arguably the finest woodland in the county with many locally and regionally rare species, including baneberry and toothwort.
These species, along with 90 other species of flora, thrive because of the woodl
and's age and tree species composition – primarily ash.
Ash trees favour the chalk soils of the Wolds and are the dominant woodland tree for this part of Yorkshire The beech, sycamore, larch and Norway spruce were planted in the 1950s as the woodland was to be managed as a commercial timber reserve. This planting programme had a detrimental effect on biodiversity, with many plants being shaded out by the dense canopy of the planted trees.
Since 1991, this council, Natural England, the Forestry Commission and the parish council have been working in partnership to manage the woodland.
This partnership has culminated in an agreed management plan that, as guardian of the wood, East Riding of Yorkshire Council is adhering too. The long-term aim is to revert the woodland back to an ash woodland more typical of the East Yorkshire landscape.
This involves the felling of beech, sycamore and conifers. Ash trees are being encouraged to regenerate in the newly cleared areas which provide varying levels of light and shade and improve the age structure of the woodland.
Ash trees naturally cast less shade and also come into leaf later than other tree species in the wood, this allows a richer herb layer to develop and creates a fantastic wood for spring flora. This is what makes Millington Wood special.
Ongoing practical management of the wood has been very successful; dark woodland with bare ground has been replaced with a light open woodland which in turn has enabled a rich carpet of flowers and forests of sapling ash trees to develop.
The council's countryside access team is holding a Walk in the Woods on May 24, from 10am to noon. I will be happy to discuss the finer points of the woodland management programme while discussing the wider details of the management plan.
For further details, please call me on (01482) 395209.
Chris Toohie
countryside officer
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