One method that has worked well is planting a large number of goat willow cuttings of all sizes. I cut it from other areas of the woodland and even with a fair bit of damage they've grown well.
On that note, I've been around the woodland today and noticed the red deer have been eating the bark of various willows again. Here's a couple of pics of some of the first goat willow cuttings I put in, they are now about 20' tall and the base is about 4" across.
Edit to add, sadly I can't get the pictures to upload correctly.