The site of the ifnotnow.when wood can be divided into two parts ¨C the meadow area nearest the road and a more formal, planted area at the top.

The meadow area
It was decided at an early stage that although David had envisioned trees to be planted in the meadow area it was just too wet. So it was left as was. This was fortunate as environments such as this have been in serious decline across the country, making these areas valuable and worth conserving.
In June 2007 the wood was visited by two experts in their field: a Senior Lecturer at the UEA in Ecology & Helen Baczkowska, a Conservation Officer for Norfolk Wildlife Trust. They both agreed that grasslands within the ¡®meadow¡¯ area of the wood are of a high conservation quality and provide a good example of wet meadow plant communities, with a good richness of interesting and localized species.

As well as good numbers of Southern Marsh Orchid, the meadow supports many other characteristic and uncommon plants of wet grassland and meadows, including a spectacular display of Meadow Buttercup. Of particular interest are the specialist plant community of seasonally flooded grassland and pool margins that include species such as Marsh Foxtail and Lesser Spearwort that flourish in shallow water and recently exposed areas, as water levels draw down in summer. For further information on the flora and fauna of the site please refer to the surveys completed. For further information on the flora and fauna of the site please refer to the surveys listed on the left. Some files will download to your computer as PDF files and some as Word .doc files, so check your download folder to see them.

Due to the importance of this meadow area it was awarded the status of a County Wildlife Site (CWS). County Wildlife Sites are considered to be of value for wildlife in a county context. There are nearly 1300 CWS in Norfolk, most of which are privately owned and have no public access. The CWS system in Norfolk is managed by a partnership of Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT), Norfolk County Council and Natural England, with the lead role taken by NWT. While CWS do not receive statutory protection, they are given some protection through the planning system, with NWT playing the key role in advising planning authorities, developers and others on their protection. There is no legal constraint on the management of these sites, but NWT works with many landowners across Norfolk, giving help, advice and support with management.

The more formal, planted area
This area has been planted with a mix of fruit trees to the right of the mound and ¡®scrub¡¯ to the left. The fruit trees are free for anyone to harvest, for a detailed plan of the varieties please see the fruit tree planting plan link on the left. The mound area is edged with columlar oak and beech.

Throughout the whole site are planted one if not more examples of the Celtic Alphabet of Trees or the Ogham. These are all native and represented a great source of wisdom to our ancestors. For more information on the Ogham please see the document listed on the left.

Wildlife
Water voles, grass snakes and otters have all been reported in the vicinity of the wood.
Barns owls and kestrels have nested in the bird boxes.