In his regular column in The Guardian, naturalist and broadcaster Richard Mabey writes “The proliferation of wild hollies proceeds apace in the Chilterns … they are becoming the dominant understorey in beech and oakwoods on the acid plateaux. Across much of Chipperfield Common the hollies make up impenetrable thickets below the timber trees… Chipperfield and Sarratt are one of the epicentres of holly. Ancient hollies pack most of the hedges as well as the woods… The great resurgence of holly may reflect a decline in grazing (cattle love their foliage) on the local commons and of management in the woods…”