Nagshead

Also within

Gloucestershire County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Bracken scrub

Geology & landscape

Rock Type: Limestone, Sandstone

Birds & fish recorded

Birds

Description

Area, 120.12 ha. 316.6 ac. Description The extensive woodland of Forest of Dean has been managed for timber production for many centuries, with planting and careful management maintaining a mosaic of woodland types. The central region lies on the Coal Measures and supports oak woodland with a fairly restricted calcifuge ground flora. Surrounding this acid area are the limestone and Old Red Sandstone rocks which give rise to more fertile soils with a variety of woodland types over a richer ground flora. This is one of three sites in the Forest of Dean representing the national nature conservation importance of this extensive woodland area. Nagshead provides an excellent example of the broad leaved woodland habitat typical of the Coal Measures and the site is of major ornithological importance. Although this is a site of primary woodland the present trees have nearly all been planted. The oldest part of the site was planted in 1814 and is dominated by both pedunculate oak Quercus robur and sessile oak Q. petraea. A later planting of oak occurs in the eastern part of the site. Vegetation of the understorey and field layer varies according to whether or not the woodland is grazed by sheep. In the ungrazed section a dense shrub layer dominated by holly Ilex aquifolium and rowan Sorbus aucuparia has developed while the grazed sectionis much more open in character. The herb layer largely consists of bramble Rubus fruticosus, bracken Pteridium aquilinum and soft grass Holcus mollis with tufted hair grass Deschampsia cespitosa, wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella and blue bell Hyacinthoides non-scripta locally abundant. Patches of semi natural woodland dominated by alder Alnus glutinosa occur along the Cannop Brook and in these damper areas the vegetation includes species such as soft rush Juncus effusus. Some small ponds and streams add to the overall habitat diversity of the site and less common plants present include ivy campanula Wahlenbergia hederacea, heath spotted orchid Dactylorhiza maculata and broad leaved helleborine Epipactis helleborine. The woodland is particularly rich in bird life and supports good populations of breeding pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca, wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix and redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus as well as abundant great tits Parus major and blue tits P. caeruleus. Hawfinches Coccothraustes coccothraustes nest occasionally. Some thirty years of research into the breeding biology of blue tit, great tit, pied flycatcher and wood warbler has been carried out at Nagshead and nestboxes are provided throughout the RSPB reserve. The open rides are attractive to butterflies and those recorded include white admiral Limenitis camilla, purple hairstreak Favonius quercus, pearl bordered fritillary Clossiana euphrosyne. There is a good range of other woodland invertebrate species, especially in the vicinity of Cannop Brook.

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