Description

The management compartments

Rigsby Wood, which is owned and managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust , lies partly on chalky Boulder Clay, partly on glacial sands on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB.

For management purposes the wood is divided into five compartments, which reflect its past history of management and origins. The land slopes from 45m AOD on the southern edge of the wood to about 22m at the northern edge of Ailsby Wood (Compartment 5). The slope is steepest in Furze Piece and the Pingle (Compartments 1 and 2a) and becomes shallower towards the northern part of the reserve. Old ridge and furrow can be detected in the Pingle. 

Although some areas have been replanted, the reserve retains a rich ground flora. A substantial part is old coppice of hazel and ash with standards of oak and ash. There is a fine show of bluebells in spring. On the left of the main ride there is a plantation woodland with old coppice on the right. Here wood anemone, wood-sorrel, early purple orchid, greater butterfly orchid, sweet woodruff, and ragged robin can be found. Along the old boundary between Rigsby and Haugh parishes there is a fine mediaeval bank and another between Rigsby and Ailby Woods with large field maples.

The reserve supports a good range of breeding birds, including tawny owl, great spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, finches, five species of summer warbler and five of tits. Barn owls hunt along the rides. In winter, woodcock, goldcrest and redpoll are frequent visitors.

The wood is surrounded by arable land that was once pasture/hay meadows and rough grassland.

Woodland in general was accorded high priority in the Trust's Reserve Establishment Policy document published in September 1979.. Woodlands on primary sites and those within series or blocks of woods are of particular importance. Rigsby is one of a chain of woods along the southern part of the eastern boundary of the Wolds AONB. The wood is an important landscape feature.