Whitegrove Copse

Whitegrove Copse is a 3.6 ha Local Nature Reserve on the northern outskirts of Bracknell in Berkshire. It is owned and managed by Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

This site is ancient coppiced woodland.

History
Whitegrove Copse has been wooded since at least 1600. The wood was part of the Holly Spring Estate infrastructure, providing wood and cover for deer. As part of the Holly Spring estate the site was owned in its last few years by the Sheppee family and the copse provided cover for pheasant shoots along with wood for fire logs and pea sticks within the gardens.

In the 1990s large areas of the land surrounding Whitegrove Copse was developed for housing, and the copse was retained as a public open space and managed by Bracknell Forest Borough Council from 1996.

In 2002 the site was declared as a local nature reserve by Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

Fauna
The site has the following fauna:

Invertebrates

 * Speckled wood
 * Holly blue
 * Dark bush-cricket

Birds

 * Eurasian blackcap
 * Common chiffchaff
 * Coal tit
 * Goldcrest
 * Song thrush
 * European green woodpecker
 * Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Flora
The site has the following flora:

Trees

 * Douglas fir
 * Scots pine
 * Corylus avellana
 * Malus sylvestris
 * Quercus cerris
 * Platanus orientalis
 * Sorbus torminalis
 * Sorbus aucuparia
 * Sambucus nigra
 * Crataegus
 * Betula pendula
 * Populus tremula
 * Ilex aquifolium
 * Ulmus laevis

Plants

 * Lychnis flos-cuculi
 * Hyacinthoides non-scripta