Jewel in the crown.

At the end of the day with the ecologist we were told this boring looking plant in a heavily shaded part of the wood was the jewel in the crown.  Dog's mercury is an indicator of ancient woodland.  We were in a strip of old woodland between ditches along the edge of the arable field we planted up in 1987.   If we re-coppice some of the old hazel and field maple stools and open an adjacent part of the new wood to let the light in, we should get a flush of  wild woodland flowers from the ancient seed bank preserved in the soil, which may then spread to the new wood.  So that's another project in the wood (besides replacing 2,400 33 year old dead ash trees!).