"Get into woodlands", said the previous Duke. If only he'd cared about the kingfisher.
The Duchy of Cornwall acquired a big woodland ten miles from Plymouth in 2019, and a clear-felling of all trees in some sections was completed by October ( bit.ly/perocto .) Areas that aren't now stripped bare, are thinned to the point where no deer can feel secure. (That enjoyable sense of concealment is gone for a human too.) Duchy immediately began to cull the indigenous Roe deer in 2019 by employing the three sharpshooters who work in cooperation with the county Council, and associates now do weekend 'hunts' to try and get the solitary small survivors. For generations, Perdredda Wood was a best-kept nature-lovers' secret, but it's now just a little-known wasteland, biologically speaking. In the western half on Saturday 9 Aug 2025, furthest from the A374, there wasn't a single Jay or Woodpecker calling. It's never been like that in over a hundred years. June 2020 (above): Tall broadleaf trees are near the middle of the cross-section above, farmed conife...