"Get into woodlands", said the Duke. (He meant, 'as a career choice'.) If only he cared about the kingfisher. (He is now the King.) The Duchy's Head Forester says that walking in woodlands is good for mental health, but the strategy he follows for old Cornish woods removes the trees that sustain bird diversity.
The Duchy of Cornwall acquired old Perdredda Wood near Polbathic in 2019. A man arrived at the gate one afternoon in May, to explore with a view to culling of the deer. A clear-felling of some large sections was completed by October: bit.ly/perocto . Parts of the wood which aren't now devoid of all trees, are thinned to a level where no deer can feel secure. (That pleasant sense of concealment is gone for a human too.) The deer now gone were mostly of the indigenous Roe species. Three sharpshooters, who also work with the county Council, took turns to visit in the late afternoons and pick off any that returned when the machinery was no longer noisy. (Staff have since been closing the wood for weekend 'hunts', going after any solitary survivors.) For generations, the biodiversity at Perdredda Wood was a nature-lover's best-kept secret, but now the place is fast becoming as depleted as anywhere else. In the western half on Saturday 9 Aug 2025 (furthest from the A374) th...