Alvecote Wood

Alvecote Wood is a 20 acre woodland site near Tamworth with ancient woodland, newly-planted woodland, ponds and wildflower meadows managed for wildlife.

We have owned Alvecote Wood in 2007, and have been restoring and managing it as a wildlife site since then. We have put in tracks, planted hedgerow and coppice, cleared bramble, restored over-stood coppice to rotation, put in nest boxes, undertaken wildlife surveys, planted meadows and started to open to the public via open days and for use by community groups. We bought 9 acres of adjacent field in 2010, now known as Betty's Wood, and have planted this with native broadleaved woodland, meadows and ponds to form a new wildlife site and a wildlife corridor.

We hold open days and open evenings during the summer months, as well as work parties during the winter, as well as regular photography workshops. The wood generated by conservation activities is used as firewood and to make small wooden products. We also sell hay from our meadows.

We are part of a developing landscape-scale initiative known as the Anker Valley project, aiming to improve the co-ordination of conservation activities along the River Anker.