Bernwood Butterfly Trail

This circular waymarked route leads through a number of habitats including oak woodland, spruce woodland and wildflower rides. The waymarkers are square posts with a yellow band around the top. Following ride widening over recent years and a programme of rideside management works, the variety and abundance of wildflowers has increased. In turn, with more wild flowers the butterfly populations are increasing.

 

The Butterfly Trail runs past the Bucks, Beds and Oxon Wildlife Trusts wildflower meadow which is stunning in late summer. In addition to the many wildflower and butterfly species you can see, there are wild service trees and you are likely to see deer if you are quiet. At the start of 2001 extensive management work was carried out at Bernwood, and again in 2005 and 2010. In 2010 a series of new ponds were created throughout the woods as part of the Million Ponds Project, to improve the wet habitats in the woods. One of these can be seen off the Butterfly trail next to an existing pond.

 

Existing areas of blackthorn are also being managed and some areas have been planted with new blackthorn. This prickly plant is popular with the black hairstreak butterfly, a particularly rare butterfly that is found in this wood.