Abbey Wood, Flixton

Also within

Suffolk County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Ancient woodland, Coppiced woodland

Geology & landscape

Rock Type: Glacial Till

Landscape processes: Glacial

Description

Description Abbey and Packway woods are ancient woodland on a plateau of boulder clay overlain by sand. The woodland structure consists of coppice with standards although there is some 19th and 20th century planting of broadleaves and a few conifers. The woods have a varied flora including ancient woodland plants and one scarce species. The dominant stand type is pedunculate oak hazel ash of the heavy soil form. Wet ash maple and pedunculate oak hornbeam typical ash maple stands are also present along with small suckering elm wood stands around the woodland edge. hazel Corylus avellana coppice occurs over much of the wood with some hornbeam Carpinus betulus to the south east. Oak Quercus robur, ash Fraxinus excelsior and field maple Acer campestre standards are found with the coppice. Scattered groups of planted Turkey oak Quercus cerris, Picea spp and Populus sp are also found. Dog's mercury Mercurialis perennis dominates the shaded woodland floor. Where the light penetrates the canopy, patches of the grass Poa trivialis are present. Brambles Rubus fruticosus, ground ivy Glechoma hederacea and nettles Urtica dioica are frequent. Interesting occasional species include early purple orchid Orchis mascula, bugle Ajuga reptans, Wavy Bitter Cress Cardamine flexuosa, yellow archangel Lamiastrun galeobdolon, wood millet Milium effusum, primrose Primula vulgaris, ramsons Allium ursinum, broad helleborine Epipactis helleborine and the rare thin spiked wood sedge Carex strigosa. The woods have a long and varied history ranging from the medieval association with the Augustinian Abbey of Flixton to its more recent use in the Second World War. The concrete ride in the centre of Abbey Wood dates from this time.

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.