Over and Lawn Woods

Also within

Cambridgeshire CountySuffolk County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Ancient woodland, Coppiced woodland, Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Rock Type: Glacial Till

Landscape processes: Glacial

Description

Area, 45 hectares 111 ac Description This woodland is of ancient origin and as such holds well developed plant and animal communities, many of the species represented being confined to such ancient woodlands which are restricted to lowland England where their extent has declined in recent years. Over and Lawn Woods, lying on chalky Boulder Clay, holds a variety of woodland community types and are noted in particular for the heavy soil form of the hazel ash stand type. Other associations represented are wet ash maple, together with more restricted areas of hazel pedunculate oak and wet ash wych elm. The traditional management of these woods has been of coppice with standards, a practice which has retained the ‘natural’ distribution of tree species and maintained a diversity of structure and hence of plant and animal life. The dominant tree species are pedunculate oak Quercus robur and ash Fraxinus excelsior standards together with ash, hazel Corylus avellana and field maple Acer campestre as coppice. Shrubs include spindle Euonymus europaeus, guelder rose Viburnum opulus and wayfaring tree Viburnum lantana. honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum is also frequently found. The ground flora is characteristically of the dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta type together with a rich variety of additional ancient woodland plants including ramsons Allium ursinum, yellow archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon, wood anemone Anemone nemorosa and sanicle Sanicula europaea. Of additional note is the presence of a number of locally rare species such as wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella, woodruff Galium odoratum, yellow pimpernel Lysimachia nemorum and the moss Fissidens exilis. The wood also supports the nationally restricted oxlip Primula elatior. Additional structural and species diversity is provided by the system of rides and glades. These support a variety of grasses and herbs including meadow vetchling Lathyrus pratensis, field wood rush Luzula campestris and meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria. A stream and pond within the woods add additional habitat variety and further enhance the value of the area for animal life.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

Plant communities