brentwood.gov.uk

This site allocation includes Eastlands Spring Local Wildlife Site (Bre134). This streamside ancient woodland comprises a mosaic of Hornbeam coppice, Ash and Hazel, Field Maple, Elder and Hawthorn, giving a good vertical structure to the woodland. Wild Service-tree, a species with a strong affinity to ancient woodland, is found in the northern part of the site. The ground flora has an array of ancient woodland indicators including Bluebell, Yellow Archangel, Moschatel, Primrose, Wood Millet, Wood Anemone and Wood-sedge.
The southern tip of this Site comprises the scrubbed up line of an ancient lane (Nightingale Lane), which now forms a contiguous part of the main woodland habitat. Other habitats on site, including hedgerows, grassy field margins and copses, together constitute an important wildlife corridor supporting protected species (including bats and barn owls) and significant biodiversity. A GI masterplan will be essential to protect and enhance existing biodiversity, providing generous green buffers to existing sensitive habitats, functionally linked semi-natural habitats and protecting important hedgerows and existing priority deciduous woodland and Eastlands Spring LoWS. The aim should be to improve ample green open space to reduce recreational impacts on sensitive habitats and habitat linkages between Thorndon Country Park and Woodland to the north and Langdon Hills Country Park to the south-east. The overarching aim should be to achieve a net gain in biodiversity.