Last week the volunteering team carried out ongoing work creating vistas in the woodland…
By cutting down and lifting the invasive Holly it increases the potential for more growth diversity within the woods.
Opening it up allows the sunlight to stream through deeper into the woodland.
Tree poppers were used to tease out the roots of the immature Holly trees.
If left unchecked the evergreen Holly would eventually take over!
The Friends Team (FONGW) carried out long overdue, much needed work in the woods during November and December 2025.
Many years ago, plastic wire mesh fencing had been installed creating an enclosure over a large area in the woods as part of a regeneration project. It was designed to keep out the grazing deer that destroy the saplings, ultimately leaving the woodland area barren. The enclosed protected area has now rejuvenated and consequently the fencing had become redundant.
The Team spent several weeks cutting, lifting and removing the derelict fencing, most of which had become buried under detritus and moss, trapped by Hawthorn trees and entwined in Pendulous Sedge grasses.
The non-biodegradable mesh has now been completely removed leaving the rejuvenated area a safe environment and free of what had been identified as a potential hazard to wildlife in its abandoned state.
Some of the removed mesh being carted away…
Several UK and European named storms had brought down vulnerable trees across both main routes and subsidiary tracks. Over the last few months the Work Party have been able to bring them down, clear the logs aside and make pathways safe again.
Before…
And after…
Some trees were clearly diseased and hung wildly in dangerous positions…
And after…
Other tree casualties made it difficult for visitors to follow the tracks without ducking and diving…
Brought down safely and cleared by the Work Party, opening up the pathway again…
Autumn leaves and detritus had smothered the bridge and approaching steps making this particularly steep area of the Yellow route difficult to navigate safely. The Work Party cleared the debris exposing the planks of the bridge and the treads of the steps.
Several waymarkers have rotted and fallen over time. The Work Party have just reinstated one and replaced another on the Yellow route.
This one was reinstated…
And this one…
Replaced with a new oak post…
The Work Party continue to remove the invasive Birch saplings in the Heather glade…
Visitors to the woods will probably have noticed that a number of new bridges and boardwalks have been installed to make walking round the wood easier, especially in the wetter months. 
Bridges on path alongside camp.
Boardwalk on Yellow Trail.
With help from the Wednesday Group, we have completed the restoration of an old path linking Heather Glade down to Middle Way and Hut Glade. It passes through a dense block of aspen trees which are currently losing their leaves and creating a carpet of yellow.
Although the bluebells have largely finished, there are still lots of flowers emerging in the wood.
Red Campion
Foxgloves
Much of our work party activities consist of managing the growth of vegetation. This is done for several reasons. Firstly it is important to maintain public access and safety – so dangerous trees and blocked paths have priority. But in most cases we are maintaining and improving the structure of the wood to encourage bio-diversity through creating and maintaining a range of habitats. Left to itself, the wood would revert to dense woodland with many fewer species of plant and animals.
Here we are removing re-growth of Rhododendron, which as an invasive foreign species can swamp the landscape if left unchecked.
Other recent work includes planting out new Hornbeam saplings to fill in gaps along the Cuffley Camp boundary and clearing a blocked culvert which was causing Rowbourne Brook to flood the junction of Middle Way and the Blue Trail.
On 28th August, there was a ‘first’ for the Great Wood when a wedding blessing was hosted in ‘Hut Glade’. At the critical time, the weather held off and a great time was had by all.
The heather is flowering at the moment. The large block of heather north of the car park is not very visible as there has been no cutting/flailing of the bracken this year. On the other hand, this has meant that the heather growth adjacent to the path leading south from Six Ways has been able to grow:
