Most Hertforshire woodlands were either badly damaged by conifer plantings in the post-war period or have been allowed to become dark and unproductive. Plashes Wood is an lovely exception. An SSSI and covering 72ha just east of the A10 at Collier's End, the woodland is light and airy (lots of timber including, unfortunately a substantial proportion of the Wild Cherry, was extracted in the mid 1980s). The wood is mostly oak-hornbeam (some pollards) but with a substantial quantity of field maple and elm (suckers) and an understory of hazel, enlivened by the odd planting of beech and Norway spruce.
"Plashes Wood, between Colliers End and Latchford, is designated SSSI for the richness and diversity of its ancient woodland and is among the most important as well as largest woods in this part of the county (72 ha). The rich ground flora reflects the local variation in soil types (mixed acidic/calcareous) and good management in the past. It contains chiefly oak/hornbeam coppice with standards, with ash and beech, over bluebells and dog's mercury. It also has oak, ash, beech and silver birch over hazel, elder and blackthorn, as well as some coniferous plantation, marshy clearings and ponds." [Herts County Council website]
Though private, it is crossed by two public bridleways and skirted (on its eastern edge) by a public footpath - so reasonable coverage is possible. Best access is had by parking the car at the right turn for Latchford and walking up the gravel track westwards towards the wood where you reach a nice clearing where cut timber is sometimes stored. From here you can either wander up the track or along the the path which heads southwest out of the wood and across the surrounding farmland where it joins another bridleway which crosses the southern sector of the wood before heading west back into the southwestern corner of the wood and on to Colliers' End... passing on its way (the last time I looked) a dilapidated gamekeeper's cottage.
A map showing the location of Plashes Wood can be found here.
 | A pond located near to Plashes Wood - always worth a scan! |
Back in the 1980s the wood contained all the common woodland birds plus Hobby, Sparrowhawk, Tawny and Little Owls, Stock Dove, Tree Sparrow, Hawfinch (now a great rarity in Herts) and Marsh Tit. I saw / heard Stock Dove and Marsh Tit on a visit in July 2003. The sunny nature of the wood means it is also good for butterflies.... 3 skippers, ringlet, small copper, red and white admiral, speckled wood plus the common stuff on a single visit in July this year when I also saw Fallow Deer. The surrounding farmland is also not too bad - that nice mix of arable and horsiculture that make birding in Herts a bit more productive than some counties. North-east of the wood at Standon Lordship is an area of watermeadow that held breeding Snipe in the mid 1980s but is rather overshadowed now by poplars.
Information on the effects of the Collier's End bypass on rights of way
Herts County Council page with information on the Upper Rib Valley, the area including Plashes Wood