Red squirrel and roe deer are the two mammals you’re most likely to come across. Big piles of pine needles are worth a closer look, they might well be a wood ants’ nest. Breaking out onto the woodland edge you can get a real sense of the forests slowly marching out and up across the landscape.
Birch woodlands are generally a bit more open, with dappled light and more clearings. They are great for insects and butterflies and in Autumn and Spring the colours are fantastic – particularly where there is aspen scattered in amongst the birch.
In plantation woodlands the trees are often all the same age and the same species, so there’s often less wildlife and less variety. However, many well managed plantations are full of wildflowers and birds, especially along the edges of forest tracks, the walking or cycling is often easy and the views are nearly always amazing.
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