Woodland is very scarce in Sutton, making up less than 3% of the Borough. There is around an acre of woodland at the Centre, made up of a real mixture of trees. The very large old trees remain from when the land was the garden of The Lodge (Social Services). These provide nesting sites and feeding for woodpeckers and other birds. A nationally notable hoverfly (a fly which looks like a wasp with the lovely name Mallota cicimbriformis) has been discovered nesting in rotten holes on one tree. This shows the management dilemmas we have: normally rot would need to be removed for the sake of the tree.

How it was created
Many of the other trees in the woodland are left over from the previous use of the area: a parks tree nursery. In winter you can see that they are in straight lines! Since 1989 school groups and the Ecology Centre volunteers have planted hundreds of young native trees. We have also planted native woodland wildflowers such as bluebells, daffodils, honeysuckle and clematis.

What happens there
The woodland is used for nature study with school groups and on holiday activities. We also use it for environmental art, especially in autumn, when the variety of native and non-native trees gives a rainbow of leaf colours.