From whips to woodland…

As featured in The Hovarian magazine, June 2026.

Several years ago, between 2019 and 2023, particularly after the drastic ash dieback surgery in 2022, over 3000 whips (young trees) were planted, by The Friends of Three Cornered Copse, and the contractors employed by the council.

They were all native species, blackthorn, hazel, hawthorn, dogwood, guelder rose and several others. Evidence of the planting was all too easy to see thanks to the collars and stakes used to protect the young growth in its early months and years.

Now the whips have become trees and saplings that stretch to around 20 feet high and it’s gratifying to see them established and doing well among the older trees in the woodland. What remains are the decaying collars and stakes, few still standing. The collars, made of a sugar-based compound, gradually degrade and disappear after a number of years, but the plastic clips that hold them to the stakes remain. Over time many of our members have collected these and tidied up the stakes, though still some remain, which we’ll get to eventually.

The rangers suggested, at the time of planting, that 40% of the planted whips should succeed, which we estimate has been achieved.

Meanwhile the copse is at its glorious best this month. The cow parsley is in full bloom, its scent filling the woodland. The brambles are spreading rapidly, creating a protective cover over the woodland floor, and the May blossom is still decorating the hawthorn bushes.

It’s also a good time for foraging. Cow parsley is also known as wild chervil, and can be used as a herb, in the same way as cultivated parsley A member of the carrot family, it has an aniseed- like flavour, apparently (But don’t confuse it with hemlock, which is similar in appearance.) Bramble leaves are edible too. They can be infused as a tea, which was used as a medicine to treat sore throats and mouth ulcers. Whilst there’s not an abundance of wild garlic in the copse, nearby Coney Woods has carpets of the plant, perfect to make a tasty pesto.

Work days are few and far between these days. due, it seems, to some unintentional neglect from the City Parks department, which has appointed a new ranger whom we have yet to meet. Meanwhile there’s plenty to do. So take a walk through the woodland and enjoy the early summer vegetation in Three Cornered Copse.

Simon Baxendale