Ruislip Woods
Strategic aims & actions Site-wide management rationale Operational aims & actions
The Ruislip Woods form an extensive example of ancient semi-natural woodland, including some of the largest unbroken blocks that remain in Greater London. A diverse range of oak and hornbeam woodland types occurs, with large areas managed on a traditional coppice-with-standards system.
The site is also unusual in Greater London for the juxtaposition of extensive woodland with other seminatural habitats, mostly notably acidic grass-heath mosaic and areas of wetland. These habitats and especially the woodland contain a number of plant and insect species that are rare* or scarce* in a national or local context.
The woodland lies in four major blocks, known as Bayhurst, Mad Bess, Copse and Park Woods, situated across the upper slopes and valleys at the head of several stream systems. Park Wood is the only unbroken area of ancient semi-natural woodland larger than 100 hectares in Greater London.
Ruislip Woods NNR is situated in North West Middlesex within the London Borough of Hillingdon.
This concept plan has been produced as an interactive extension of the official management plan 2010-15 published on line by Hillingdon Borough Council.  It is an educational resource produced as a guide to the official Woodlands Management Plan assembled from key elements of the plan by Resilience UK, as part of an international comparison of conservation management plans for tree landscapes.
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