Handpost Gully is a steep wooded gully lying within the southern boundary of New Greenham Park, on the southern edge of Greenham Common, which forms part of the Greenham and Crookham Commons SSSI. The Gully is owned and managed by the Trust, who wish to maintain the conservation value of the site whilst providing opportunities for local people to appreciate its value.

Handpost Gully is a steep sided valley with zonal bands of mature Birch and oak woodland giving way to Alder woodland along the stream edge. At the head of the valley there are two concrete balancing ponds and a stream runs down from the ponds south towards the A339.

The stream is fed by a system of balancing ponds and natural seepages in the gully sides containg a rich variety of flora creating a nutrient rich flushes dominated by Elder and nettles. On the stream edges there are patches of opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage, and large bitter-cress is a frequent associate. Abundant on the sides of the gully are lady-fern, broad buckler-fern, creeping soft-grass, wood meadow-grass, wood sorrel and common marsh-bedstraw. The adjacent ground is soft, supporting Alder woodlands which gives way to Mature Birch woodland and mature oak woodland as the slope ascends. Around the perimeter of the gully is a younger scrub community, the boundary of which is marked by a newly planted hedge.

There is a large amount of dead wood present in the gully, both standing and fallen. This, coupled with the stream and ponds provides important invertebrate habitats and consequently the gully is important for small birds. Wet woodland habitats are important for amphibians which in turn provide food for reptiles such as Adders, Vipera berus and Grass snakes, Natrix natrix. The gully perimeter is littered with various types of rubble. Young grass snakes have been observed using this rubble to bask on.

1 Birch/willow woodland on the eastern side of Handpost Gully, which extend up to the side of the ponds without much change in vegetation. It is secondary in nature, silver birch, downy birch and goat willow are abundant, with pedunculate oak occasional and aspen present, but rare. The shrub layer is composed of elder and hawthorn, the latter rare in this area but more prominent at the tope of the slope (2). There are abundant ferns, especially broad buckler-fern, and male-fern occurs but is rare. Enchanter's-nightshade, broad leaved willowherb and wood-sorrel are all quite common in the shadier parts. There are small glades with common nettle, bracken, ground-ivy and bramble more of a feature. There is no sycamore, except at the very southern end where it joins up with the adjacent site.

2 The top of the slope, where it is very steep up to the flatter verge described in (11). On it grows tall scrub of hawthorn, blackthorn, elder and goat-willow, which merges with the birch/willow woodland below. Bramble, nettles and ground-ivy are very common in the field layer, and there is plenty of rubble.

3 An area acid flush formed from one or more springs rising half way down the slope. The canopy here contains more alder and downy birch and is similar to the alder carr woodland canopy that covers the bottom half of (8) and the gully(10). There are patches of water mint, and heath rush, with scattered water figwort and marsh thistle. Also present is lady-fern and lesser spearwort. On the edge of the gully, creeping soft-grass, wavy bitter-cress and wood sorrel are all frequent.

4 The area above the balancing ponds which has a canopy of silver birch and goat willow which becomes more dominated by birch towards the top of the north-western and western slope. Alder is rare. There is a waterlogged area with common marsh-bedstraw and wavy bitter-cress abundant, and water figwort occasional. A pool has wood small-reed, lesser spearwort and common duckweed. This area has a number of broad-leaved helleborine plants, some protected under cages, but many more coming up around them and on the eastern side of the ponds.

5 The western and northern margin of ponds, outside the fence, has a diverse mixture of plants taking advantage of the lack of canopy. There is teasel, marsh thistle and greater willowherb, with bramble, but also wood sedge, yellow sedge, white sedge, yellow pimpernel and slender St John's-wort.

6 There are two balancing ponds. The upper pond (northern) has a rich variety of flora. Greater willowherb is abundant, with common marsh-bedstraw, slender St John's-wort, wavy bitter-cress, cookoo-flower, water plantain and water figwort all frequent. Reedmace and water mint are locally frequent. It may be that reedmace grows to dominate this pond, but at the moment it is only in one corner. Also present is greater spearwort, but there is no horsetail. As part of the site's ongoing management programme the congested lower balancing pond has been cleared. Allowed to fill naturally with water draining from the pond above, it will create a habitat suitable for colonisation by aquatic and marginal plants, invertebrates and amphibians.

7 The top of the western slope where there is almost pure silver birch scrub, with patches of goat willow. Present in the field layer is wild strawberry, wood sage and broad-leaved helleborine (rare).

8 The main part of the western wooodland, again dominated by silver birch, but with goat willow and pedunculate oak occcasional, and Scots pine rare. Bracken is a dominant feature in a large proportion of this area. There is no shrub layer. The field layer is very poor except for mosses, wood sage, bramble, heath wood-rush, rosebay willowherb, enchanter's-nightshade, tormentil, wood meadow-grass and common bent are all occasional. At the bottom end of this woodland it becomes alder carr, and the ground flora changes with broad buckler-fern, wood sorrel and creeping soft-grass becoming abundant.

9 An acid flush which has patches of moss carpet including bog mosses (Sphagnum spp.). Alders are more common in the canopy, with downy birch, silver birch and goat willow. There is heath rush, soft-rush, common marsh-bedstraw, wood sorrel, yellow pimpernel, broad buckler-fern, marsh thistle, wood-sedge and floating sweet-grass.

10 The gully, which has steep sides and is, at its maximum at the northern end, approx 3-4m deep. At the southern end the gully widens out and becomes less steep. There are patches of opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage and large bitter cress is a frequent associate. Abundant on the sides of the gully are lady-fern, broad buckler-fern, creping soft-grass, wood meadow-grass, wood sorrel and common marsh-bedstraw. Also found are bugle, wood millet, creeping buttercup, wavy bitter-cress, waterfigwort, lesser spearwort, wood sedge, soft-rush, bog stitchwort and hart's tongue. At the southern end of the gully there are abundant stinging nettles with cleavers and bramble, where the canopy is thin due to the fence line.

11 Road verge vegetation including Russian comfrey, bramble, common-nettle, rosebay willowherb and spear thistle with other ruderal.

The Gully is open to public access by invitation only. If you would like to visit this fascinating site please contact the Trust on 01635 817444 or email enquiries@greenham-common-trust.co.uk.