Hear by Right survey forms were distributed to 30 Year 7 pupils at each of John Hampden Grammar School, Wycombe High School and Sir William Ramsay School. The following numbers of completed forms were returned from each school: -
John Hampden Grammar School 29 forms
Sir William Ramsay 26 forms
Wycombe High School 28 forms
Have you ever heard of Wycombe District Council Woodland Service or 'The Rangers'?
Across all there schools, one third of respondents (33.7%) had heard of Wycombe District Council Woodland Service or 'The Rangers' but two thirds (66.3%) had not.
Have you ever been to a woodland in the High Wycombe, Marlow or Princes Risborough area?
The majority of respondents (77.1%) had visited a local woodland whilst 22.9& had not.
A large number however (19) did not know which one/ones. Of those that did know, they said they visited the following
· Marlow
· The Rye (3)
· Gomms Wood (4)
· Common Wood
· High Wycombe (2)
· Black Park
· Hughenden Park
· Wendover Woods
· Woodlands in Downley
· The Rye, Hughenden Park
· Common Wood, Kingswood, Penn Wood, Gomms Wood and several others
· Kingswood (3)
· Wendover
· Marlow Bottom woods
· Burnham Beeches
· Danesfield woods
· Common woods and others
· Great Missenden (not sure if this is covered)!
· Wendover Woods etc
· One in Sands around the castle
· Downley woods, Hughenden park
· The Dell at Hazlemere or the Spinney
· Near the gravel pits and Highenden Park
· Hanger Farm and many others
· Totteridge Wood
· Totteridge Woods/Kingswood (2)
· Underwood Park
Why do you go to your local woods?
The main reasons for visiting the woods were family walks and bike riding. The full results were
Walk with family 59.7%
Ride bike 42.9%
Walk/hang out with friends 31.2%
Watch wildlife 9.1%
Cut through e.g. to school/shops etc 27.3%
Other reasons given were
· Orienteering
· Scouts
· Walk my dogs (12)
· Sponsored walks with my primary school
· Ride horses, hacking
· Things with school
· Work parties
Why do you not visit your local woods?
The main reason that pupils did not visit the local woods was that they felt there was nothing for them to do there. The full results were
Not allowed (by parents) 12.8%
What woods? I didn't know they were there 2.6%
Boring/nothing there 46.2%
Didn't think we were allowed by the owner 2.6%
Scared 7.7%
Other reasons were
· Don't know any woods
· Not much there
· My mum doesn't go so I don't
· In the winter it gets dark quickly
· Not on my own - too young
· Some are private estates
· Not enough time (6)
What would you like to see/do in the woods?
There were a lot of suggestions for what they would like to see/do in the woods with the majority being adventurous activities such as Go Ape and paintballing. The full results were
More seats/benches 31.3%
Orienteering trails 24.1%
Go Ape! 57.8%
Paint balling 49.4%
Visitor centre with toilets/shop etc 26.5%
Wildlife (not Tigers!) 26.5%
Organised activities e.g. guided walks 8.4%
Mountain bike trails 42.2%
Other suggestions were
· Mud stunt park
· Bins/paths
· Bike riding
· More bins
· Long walks with mum and dad
· Use natural materials for anything to be built
· Huge zip wire
· Zip wire
· Walk up in the trees, zip wire, dog walking centre
· More bridle paths
On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is the least and 10 is the most), how important is the environment and wildlife to you?
Overall the majority of pupils rated the importance of the environment and wildlife very highly, as the results below illustrate
1 – not important at all 1.2% 6 12.0%
2 1.2% 7 27.7%
3 4.8% 8 19.3%
4 2.4% 9 16.9%
5 4.8% 10 – extremely important 10.8%
Pupils were asked how they felt the Woodland service should protect and manage woodlands for them and/or for wildlife.
The responses were
· They should have litter picks
· Have wildlife areas with special paths to follow so you can see them
· Have two different sections so people can't kill the animals
· It's fine - it is for wildlife
· It should be protected and not added to e.g. visitor centre, toilet. A wood is a tranquil place and it should not be disturbed!
· They could run a charity so they get money for picking up litter and things like that.
· Put fences round the wood
· To stop people cutting down the trees
· Don't cut down the trees. Don't litter
· I think the service should make more fun activities in the wood
· Get rid of rubbish
· Keep all metal and plastic bags out of the wood. They could also create a path for cyclists so it is easier to cycle in the wood.
· They could keep woodlands away from roads so the wildlife isn't disturbed
· They should have activities going on in the wood
· Have cameras to prevent litter
· Keep out dangerous animals
· Make more paths around the wood
· Not make it too busy so the wildlife can still live there. Do not build loads of offices and buildings in the wood/forest
· There should be people watering the plants in summer
· release more wildlife into the woods and a netted off paintballing shoot
· Plant new flowers in the summer; make 'easy to see' footpaths; maps to show guided walks; zip wires - how cool! Certain parts shut up for wild life e.g. deer. Camp fire - even cooler! Activities (Go Ape), log running on - the coolest!
· Make it a more colourful place to go, easier to see the pathways. Put more seats in the woods, camp fire seats
· Keep it clean, like pick up the litter that is left lying around
· Have more footpaths to walk on
· Have fences and gates; have proper paths/trails; have a map of the woodland at the start so you don't get lost
· Let people enjoy the woodland and wildlife with having to do things with guides but make sure that the areas are clean and well looked after
· Advertise woods so more people get into walking/taking part in activities. they should organise interesting wildlife walks
· Special horse/bike riding trails so people do not get run over! Wildlife spotting trails. Make special recommended areas for everything people use the woods for
· Discourage littering
· Keep woodland clean and make sure no one litters
· Have fences, gates and paths
· Have secure fences around the edges of the woods
· There is lots of rusty wire in the Marlow Bottom woods that needs to be replaced with new wire once in a while. Put some bins in the wood for rubbish
· Not use barbed wire because animals get stuck in it and can die. You can also rip clothing on it
· By making sure there's no litter littering up the woods
· By removing the very least amount of natural debris and more removal of litter
· Maybe to have designated dog-walking areas because some people don't like dogs and/or are allergic to them! (I'm not)! Special bike-riding trails so that people don't get run over! Some information stops to point out specific landmarks
· By putting more bird tables out
· Discourage people to litter by putting bins
· Have much colourful flowers
· Encourage activities such as tepee making. Discourage littering. Rope swings and tree house provide fun activities and therefore would probably reduce littering and encourage more young children to visit the wood
· Do not ruin the area with shops and unnatural buildings. It would scare the wildlife away and that would not be right. Plant more trees and hedges (etc) for wildlife to live in
· Have fences and gates and paths. Bridges if rivers are there
· Put bins in the wood; put bird boxes; protect wildlife from hunters
· Fix fences, more bins
· By preventing people from cutting down trees because therefore it protects the homes for the wildlife and helps the environment as well
· They could put restricted areas so only people can enter with a guide. Also they could open a care centre for sick animals. Also they could have a separate path for horse riding so the owners are less weary of hurt or scaring the public. Also this would help keep the path neat as it wouldn't get churned up by the horses
· I think they should try to clean up litter. Have more access for horses down footpaths because when we go riding there's too many footpaths, which we are not allowed down so we have to go down the busy roads which is quite scary for the horses. They should not allow quad or motorbikes down the tracks. It scares the wildlife.
· Put more things so I don't get bored
· Not destroy animal habitats
· By making it a more private place or maybe more enclosed so that it won't get ruined
· By having guards and closed area where you're not allowed to go
· See more animals
· Don't cut down trees ore move/destroy anything in the woods. get rid of all the litter and horrible things. Put more bins around
· They should keep all the trees and shouldn't cut any because there could be some wild creatures living in them. Put some more bins so if dogs litter people have somewhere to put it and normal litter
· Put benches/seats in them because the woods I go to have no seats at all, we just sit on wood and tree trunks. you should have a license for cutting down trees and killing animals or put cameras up
· See more animals and bins
· I think there should be more woods with Go Ape in them
· I don't think that you should change all of the woods because it is animal habitats and we shouldn't ruin it!
· Because I live right next to a huge wood and it all looks beautiful. I would give more view but not a better view. we need not litter or cut down any trees especially not smoke in case they drop it and it will all go down in flames
· Not letting people vandalise the woods; put food out for the animals (birds mainly); try to get people to understand that nature is good
· It's good the way it is
· Do not cut down the trees because some people would like to see the wildlife and some wildlife have homes and the people are ruining their homes
· Should check if people put any dangerous things in the woods weekly. they should look for really wild animals and keep them away from children
· Put more things in to do so people don't get bored
· By not cutting down trees
· They should not have wild animals. They shouldn't have rubbish everywhere otherwise it would be a bad wood
· They should not cut down trees because it can harm wildlife creatures and they can die
· Make more ponds for sea creatures. Visit the woods every day to see if there is anything wrong
· By taking out all the tree protectors and stalks. Protect vulnerable wildlife and take away unwanted animals such as mink!