Westhall Wood and Meadow

Also within

Suffolk County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Coppiced woodland

Geology & landscape

Rock Type: Glacial Till

Landscape processes: Glacial

Description

Description Westhall Wood and Meadow lies 1g miles south west of the village of Rickinghall. Westhall Wood is an ancient coppice with standards pedunculate oak hornbeam wood growing on heavy boulder clay overlain by sand and is one of the largest remaining intact hornbeam dominated woodlands in Suffolk. The nearby Westhall Meadow is an unusually large unimproved species rich meadow containing a community of meadow plants with affinities to both calcareous clay and calcareous loam grasslands. The major stand type in Westhall Wood is pedunculate oak hornbeam, ash maple variant. Standard trees are mainly pedunculate oak Quercus robur with a broad age structure, with occasional ash Fraxinus excelsior and hornbeam Carpinus betulus. Hornbeam is the dominant species in a coppice layer that is well preserved and of mixed age structure, with frequent ash and hazel Corylus avellana and occasional field maple Acer campestre, silver birch Betula pendula and goat willow Salix caprea. Shrub species present include Midland and common hawthorn Crataegus laevigata and Crataegus monogyna, spindle Euonymus europaeus, crab apple Malus sylvestris and guelder rose Viburnum opulus. The ground flora is dominated by a large scale mosaic of bramble Rubus sp. and dog's mercury Mercurialis perennis. wood anemone Anemone nemorosa is abundant and other species present include herb paris Paris quadrifolia, wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella, yellow archangelLamiastrum galeobdolon, yellow pimpernel Lysimachia nemorum, common twayblade Neottia ovata and early purple orchid Orchis mascula. Westhall Meadow is situated at the head of a small valley and slopes down towards the south west. The meadow is poorly drained, species rich and supports a variety of plants typical of both calcareous clay and calcareous loam pastures. The dominant species are red fescue Festuca rubra, Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus, rough meadow grass Poa trivialis and glaucous sedge Carex flacca. Meadow buttercup Ranunculus acris, lady's bedstraw Galium verum, common bird's foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus and White Clover Trifolium repens are frequent components of the community. Other, less abundant, species include spiny and common rest-harrow Ononis spinosa and Ononis repens, adder's tongue Ophioglossum vulgatum, sulphur clover Trifolium ochroleucon and pepper saxifrage Silaum silaus. The proximity of the wood and meadow habitats, which are linked by hedges and an area of semi improved grassland, increases their conservation value.

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.