Riverside South

Riverside South Woods consists of eight blocks of woodland/scrubland scattered along the south bank of the River Wear in Washington, Tyne & Wear. Of these, Reach Wood is by far the biggest at 6.14ha, whilst the rest are all below 1ha in size. Part of Reach Wood (cpt 2) is classified as an Ancient Semi-natural Woodland (ASNW) and contains mature oak, ash, beech and sycamore, along with some Scots pine. This area was under planted in 1983/4 with mixed broadleaves and conifers but the ground flora is characteristic of old woodland with anemone, bluebell and ransom. The remainder of Reach Wood consists of recent mixed planting established between 1969 and 1979.