Annual Reviews

Each year we now produce an 'Annual Review' for Friends and Members, which incorporates a summary of our formal Year-end Report, plus what we hope are some interesting highlights of the year in question.

Previous Annual Reviews can be downloaded here:

2020 Annual Review

2019 Annual Review

Members and Friends are sent these annual reviews as soon as they are produced each summer, and have an opportunity to attend our AGM each October and raise any issues.

If you would like to become a Friend, you can read more on our Join Us page, and then complete the application form.

News from the Down prev : next

Woodland Management

The Govenors of the Magog Trust have a continuing commitment to the communities of South Cambridgeshire and to the many users resident within the City boundary, to provide a unique area of countryside, for conservation and recreation for our own and future generations.

The management plan for Magog Down has evolved over several years, having to address at times the conflicting interests of the many parties who have come to use and love this recently restored countryside. The Magog Trust always endeavours, in its decisions, to further the joint aims of enhancing habitats, restoration of chalk grasslands, creating healthy and vibrant woodlands whilst protecting the past, the ancient archaeological sites around Little Trees Hill, for future generations. Taking the past, a past which cannot be recreated, into the future, was an important and decisive action.

From the first woodland plantings in 1991, the public were invited to sponsor the planting and maintenance of trees, specifically in Magog and Memorial Woods. Due to the unexpected success rate of the initial plantings which produced tall, closely spaced trees without either the canopies or understoreys to create rich woodland habitats for birds, insects and small mammals, a 50% thinning programme is now required. This thinning programme is now underway and will continue over the next five years in all the woodlands on Magog Down. The recent work in Magog Wood has resulted in the felling of around 250 additional young trees included in the sponsorship scheme in addition to those in the standard thinning programme. This additional felling was unexpected and unplanned until 2009 when the ancient scheduled monument was verified by a non-intrusive survey. Names of those who took part in this scheme are recorded and we regret any misunderstandings that have arisen concerning the sponsorship scheme.

Some mature trees, mostly Ash, Sycamore and Evergreen Oak, have also been felled. The latter two produce many seedlings and are very invasive, and trimming back ivy cover on retained mature trees has revealed hidden damage and evidence of disease.

Details of the aims of the Magog Trust can be found on our website at www.magogtrust.org.uk. We welcome your comments and suggestions and aim to reply on an individual basis.

March 2012

Old Newsletters

Up until 2011 we produced a twice-yearly Newsletter, and you can still download copies of some of these here:

In 2011 the re-designed website was launched, and so the decision was taken to stop producing these Newsletters, and instead to use this website as the main means of communication for news and articles of interest.

This move away from a regular Newsletter meant that more of the Members' and Friends' subscriptions could be spent directly on the costs of upkeep and husbandry on the Down.

We would love every regular visitor to Magog Down to help support its upkeep by becoming a Friend. Read more on our Join Us page, and then complete the application form.