OWL WOOD & PIT PLANTATION

Description : The site lies to the immediate north-east of Allerton Bywater and east of Great Preston. Both villages are moderately sized former mining communities located on the north-eastern slopes of the Lower Aire Valley, in the south-east of the Leeds Metropolitan area.

Archive material shows that Owl Wood existed as a much smaller (1.7 hectares), rectangular shaped compartment, as early as 1804, as part of a local system of "enclosed" fields. The First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1850, shows that Owl Wood had extended over adjacent field systems to roughly occupy its present area - possibly a natural expansion onto abandoned land, facilitated by a slump in agriculture during the mid 19th century. Pit Plantation first appears on a "MAP OF THE TOWNSHIP OF ALLERTON BYWATER" in 1913.

Approximately 90% of the trees in Owl Wood are Sycamore, with Pit Plantation showing greater variety, with higher numbers of ash, lime and elm (of which almost all the mature elm trees have been killed by Dutch elm disease). During the winter of 1995/96, both woodlands were thinned for the first time in about 50 years. Approximately 60 bat roost boxes were erected. These are monitored regularly through the spring and summer as part of the Forest of Leeds Bat Box Monitoring Project.

Access and facilities : Full public access (on foot). There are a number of permissive trails.

› South Map