Grid Ref: SK953687
Status: Site of Nature Conservation Importance (Lincolnshire Trust)
Boultham Moor Wood is the part of Boultham Moor to the east of Tritton Road. It is
3.2ha of
secondary oak and birch woodland with areas dominated by pine and larch, over what was probably
heathland. It has been designated as Critical Natural Asset for the following reasons:
1) The site supports heathland habitat types under the woodland canopy. Although the
areas of
heathland flora are small and fragmented (and hence the total area of heathland is difficult to
assess), species found here are indicative of dry lowland heath. They include:
Heather Calluna vulgaris (4 sites)
Cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix (2 sites)
Shepherd's cress Teesdalia nudicaulis (1 site)
Taken alongside the Starmers Pit site as the Boultham Moor complex, the heathland
communities
here are important fragments of a declining habitat resource locally and nationally.
2) The site also supports species indicative of semi-natural woodland, consistent
with oak and
birch regeneration on acid/heath soils. Boultham Moor Wood is one of 9 woodland sites in Lincoln
accounting for approximately 2.7% of Lincoln's woodland. Typical woodland ground flora species
present include:
Foxglove Digitalis purpurea
Hedge wound wort Stachys sylatica
Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta
Lincolnshire, as an agriculturally intensive county possesses a small, highly localised
woodland
resource. There is currently 22,500ha of woodland in Lincolnshire, just over 3% of the total area of
the county. This is below the national average.
3) Boultham Moor Wood is a green site in an area otherwise dominated by urban development.
It
supports the following rare and endangered species:
Tree sparrow Passer montanus
The tree sparrow has suffered a drastic decline in the last 25 years, estimated at
89% nationally.
The reasons for this decline are unclear, but a similar decline in the numbers of
other farmland
passerines may point to a change in agricultural management as a possible cause. The species
was recorded here in 1995.
Landscape Value
Mature woodland important for informal recreation and as a visual amenity within a
predominantly
built-up area. Also important to the appearance of main road approach to the City.