Reddings Wood is a privately-owned semi-natural woodland area of around 9 acres. It is located just outside the village of Kirkby on Bain, Lincolnshire, UK. These woods show all the signs of being an Ancient Woodland, but further research is necessary before this can be confirmed. The woodlands are detailed on old maps, dating from around 1888, and noted as 'Kirkby Reading' with its name changing to 'Reddings Wood' around the 1970s.
Map of Reddings Wood, Woodhall Spa, UK
In Spring time Reddings Wood has a carpet of flowering bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) underneath a newly forming leaf canopy. The thicker the summer canopy, the more the competitive ground-cover is suppressed, encouraging a dense carpet of bluebells, whose leaves mature and die down by early summer. Bluebells are a common indicator species for ancient woodlands, so bluebell woods are likely to date back to at least 1600.
The definition of ancient woodland includes several sub-types. Ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW) are composed of native tree species that have not obviously been planted; features of ancient woodland often survive in many of these woods as well, including characteristic wildlife and structures of archaeological interest.
Species which are particularly characteristic of ancient woodland sites are called ancient woodland indicator species, such as bluebells, yellow rattle, lesser celandine, wood anemone, and primrose for example representing a type of ecological indicator.
Lists of ancient woodland indicator species among vascular plants were developed by the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) for each region of England, each list containing the hundred most reliable indicators for that region.