Q&A: We put the man who manages 'Winnie-the-Pooh's woods' on the spot

ORIGINALLY from East Yorkshire, Ash Walmsley studied Wildlife Management and Conservation at Sparsholt College. Working first as a ranger and countryside manager for a local authority in Kent, he joined the Ashdown Forest in November 2021. His responsibilities include overseeing the ranger and grazing teams and being a deer coordinator.

READ THE FULL FEATURE HERE: The inspiration behind Winnie-the-Pooh’s famous Hundred Acre Wood

In addition to overseeing day-to-day operations, are you involved in any long-term projects?

The view from Friends Clump. (Image: FJ)

We are renewing the forest management plan, working with a range of stakeholders and mapping the broad vegetation types across the forest. Understanding the extent of the different vegetation communities – wet heath, dry heath, bracken, acid grassland, woodland and gorse – allows us to set appropriate objectives and targets to fulfill our Countryside Stewardship commitments and to achieve favourable SSSI status. From this exercise, we can see that gorse has increased across the forest since the previous survey.

How is the gorse managed?

The gorse is managed on a 12–15-year rotation, maintaining differing age structures for biodiversity within that. Juvenile and growing stages are good for invertebrates. Dartford warblers prefer the thicker gorse of the building and mature stages. Where gorse has become the dominant feature within a particular area, we take it out and treat it to give other heathland species a better case to establish. There are three ways to remove mature gorse: mechanical, controlled burn or spraying. Each method has its pros and cons, but we find mechanical to be the most reliable. We cleared 9 ha last year (two months’ work for one subcontractor).  The material was chipped and the biomass sent off for green electricity. 

How are the Scots pine clumps managed?

There are 12 clumps on the forest and they are managed for safety, removing any that are dead or diseased.

To commemorate the year 2000, self-set Scots pine saplings were taken from other parts of the Forest and planted to create ‘Millennium Clump’. It is now reaching the size where we will have to thin them out.

The Ashdown Forest is 60% heathland and 40% woodland.  Will you undertake any woodland management this winter?

As part of the new management plan, we will be looking into creating a detailed woodland plan, and considering each woodland from a conservation point of view and how we want them to look. Before the war (WWII), we had 90 per cent open heath and 10 per cent woodland. With a decline in grazing and in commoners cutting firewood, these areas have now succeeded into secondary woodland habitat (birch monoculture). Thinning some areas, creating wood pasture, would offer more conservation value.

Do you suffer pests?

We have a large population of fallow deer, which have stripped the understorey of our woodlands, making them less diverse and ecologically poor. We cannot currently fence off these woodlands, so we need a joined-up approach between all neighbouring landowners, while continuing our work with partners like the High Weald AONB to manage this population.

Back at the woodland edge, the long view is of short clumps of gorse and grasses punctuated with twisted pine. (Image: FJ)

Squirrels are also an issue from a tree health perspective.  We see a lot of beech with squirrel damage, which causes dieback and safety concerns.

Are you supported by volunteers?

We have our conservation volunteers undertaking practical conservation tasks: this summer, they have been creating leaky dams, and this winter they will help clear areas of invasive species like Scots pine, silver birch or rhododendron. 

Is this landscape capable of surviving climate change, higher temperatures, a drier climate and drought?

Climate change is a challenge for everyone, and Ashdown Forest is no different. The forest is known for its wet heath habitat and bogs. This summer they dried up. The sphagnum moss and sundews are dry and crisp. With significant rainfall, they will survive. My fear is that if this happens year-on-year, these wet areas will dry and we will lose these habitats and the species reliant on them. 
A warming climate benefits migrant butterflies, some birds and even some dragonflies, but where do species already on the edge of their range get pushed to?

Autumn sees the introduction of parking charges. Why?

We have a significant funding gap.

Due to their own cuts, the County Council (who bought the land in 1988 but put the freehold into a trust) cannot continue with the grants they once supplied. To manage the forest for everyone we must find alternate income.

When could the forest receive National Nature Reserve status? What else must be implemented for this to happen?

It is a lengthy process. We are working with Natural England, with the hope for 2026. NNR status would raise awareness of the area and its importance in the South East.
Grazing is key in getting the open habitat right. We have commoner grazing within a permanent 540 ha enclosure in the southern heaths (continuously grazed for many years). For the rest of the forest, two grazing rangers manage our own stock of 40 Galloway cattle, 20 Exmoor ponies and 200 Hebridean sheep. We use conservation grazing to create a mosaic of vegetative structures. The livestock have differing roles, but together they create areas of bare ground and suppress the dominant species like purple moor grass, gorse and scrub, allowing heather and other heathland species to grow. Our challenge is we are currently restricted to only graze 50 ha at any one time in the summer and 40 ha during the winter.

Parts of the forest are undergrazed and we want to increase our allowance, allowing the animals to roam across larger areas. It is finding the best way of achieving this. Changing the Ashdown Forest Act involves going through a full consultation and the Secretary of State. Another option is to use ‘no fence’ technology – GPS collars that emit a tune when an animal approaches a virtual fence line, teaching the cattle where their boundaries are.

Have you come across anything you did not expect?

Quote at Ashdown Forest Centre. (Image: FJ)

The bear sells. This week a family visiting from Israel spent a day in the forest to see the ‘home’ of Winnie-the-Pooh. They had been to Pooh Bridge and Gills Lap and had a great day out. That side of forest life is really special.

I did not expect how passionate and enthusiastic the locals are and how much the forest means to them. I understand it.  The reason I took this job was because Ashdown Forest is absolutely stunning and so important for wildlife. Some views can take your breath away.