Willey Lane Wood is designated as ancient semi-natural woodland, meaning the site has been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD. The site shows signs of management through the ages as the majority of trees in the main part of the wood are Sessile Oak (Quercus Petrea) with a small section of Hazel ( Corylus). There are at least a couple of areas that look like charcoal hearths and a few pollarded trees which were presumably boundary markers. Young hazel is very flexible and would have been coppiced and used to produce wattle fences, baskets, etc.

The wood,we understand, was pretty much clear felled in the 1930s, leaving a few veteran trees, and allowed to naturally regenerate. Regular management was disrupted by the second world war and the wood was neglected until the early 21st Century when management was recommenced. The lack of management is shown by the growth of two or three stems on each tree stump, which produced a dense spindly growth of little commercial value except as firewood, a dense canopy which prevented light from reaching the woodland floor, and the veteran trees being crowded by nearby growth.

We had the woodland commercially thinned early this century, removing some 800 tonnes of timber for use as firewood. More recently we have cut rides through the wood, which are maintained on an annual basis, cut out areas to produce glades to allow light to reach the woodland floor to allow it to regenerate, increased the amount of standing and fallen dead wood, and cut out the growth around the veteran trees to allow them to flourish.

Roe deer have now taken up residence in the wood and, as they eat young shoots, inhibit the natural regeneration process of earlier times.