Spring Flowers at Wilderness Wood
Firstly a big thanks to my team of volunteers - Kit, Geoff, Alice and Mark for getting a further 20 metres of rabbit fence done round Bat Park during Stewardship Saturday.
Tuesday 9th April 2024
Yesterday was the perfect spring day, today most certainly is not. A morning air temperature of 4 degrees C and 43mph winds tears at the skin through summer weight trousers. A stout pair of over trousers sorts that one out though.
The spring flowers don't really feel the chilly wind, although it is notable how the Wood Anemone flowers are pretty tightly closed today – keep the warmth in at least until the sun comes out.
The sun is shining intermittently so I should get a few decent shots with my phone camera.
Wood Anemone. This has been the dominant spring flower in the wood for the last few weeks, but it is about to be suplanted by 'big blue' – Hyacinthoides non-scripta, aka Bluebell. Wood anemone is a good indicator of ancient woodland, which permits it to grow at a gentle pace. It's a 'no-rush' sort of plant with its distinctive delicate frondose leaves. It spreads by way of underground stems called rhizomes (as well as from seed).
Wood Anemone - closed-up due to the lack of sunshine and low temperature today
Wood Sorrel. This can be confused with Wood Anemone, but all they have in common is their colour and their habitat preference – ancient woodland. The leaves are distinctive to any Irishman/woman who might chose to wear it on St Patrick's Day as 'shamrock' . This makes sense since it is to be found in large numbers on March 17th (a number of other trifoliate species lay claim to be shamrock also). If you pick a little and taste it you will experience a sharp tang to its leaves – oxalic acid (also found in rhubarb). Large quantities of oxalic acid can be a problem, but a few leaves of Wood Sorrel in a salad gives it a nice kick.
Wood Sorrel with its ‘shamrock’ trifoliate leaves
Yellow Pimpernel. Most people are aware of the Scarlet Pimpernel “They seek him, they seek him there....” I suppose this could be his cowardly cousin? They are related and share similarities in their prostrate growth habit and their small five-petalled flowers. You may have Creeping Jenny growing on your rockery, which is a very close relative of Yellow Pimpernel. Once again this species is common in shady deciduous woodland.
Yellow pimpernel - a close relative of Creeping Jenny and a distant cousin of Scarlet Pimpernel
Herb Robert. A small pink member of the Geranium family and one I love to have growing in my garden. A common woodland flower - look for it growing in full sun, when its stems turn a brilliant red colour. Great for growing on walls.
Herb Robert - leaves and stems turn red in bright sunlight
Red Campion. Unlike the previous woodland flowers this one is fairly tall. Very common in hedgerows and can be seem throughout the year. It can be confused with White Campion when not in flower as they have very similar leaves. In fact they often hybridise when they grow close by each other. If you examine the petals you can find the hybrids are various shades from white to pink to red. Likewise you will find the calyx (the bulbous bit behind the petals) changes shape with hybridisation.
Red Campion. It hybridises with White Campion to give colour variants inbetween
Green Alkanet. Another taller plant found in hedgerows and beside footpaths. It is described as a garden weed by some web sites, but it is welcome in my garden any time. OK it might try and take over, but that's more of a concern for lazy gardeners.
Green (or Evergreen) Alkanet - let it into your garden and it might decide to stay
Forget-me-not . A close relative of Green Alkanet and Borage. Once again considered a garden weed by some and once again welcome in my garden. When it gets a bit rampant or past its prime my wife rips it out, knowing full well it will soon return. In the photo you may see a few pink flowers. This is typical of forget-me-nots, with the Changing Forget-me-not having different coloured flowers on a single spiralled flower stalk.
Forget-me-not. Pink flowers slowly change to blue over a week or two
Honesty. Paul Simon says “Honesty, it's such a waste of energy” in one of his lyrics. I don't think he means this plant though, which is anything but. The seed pods are distinctive and look like translucent coins hanging from the plant. Apparently the Dutch call them “Coins of Judas” (well it translates as that, but is probably unpronouncable to most English people!)
Honesty - you’ll find it growing close to The Hatch.
Post Script: Emily asked me to put together a top 10 Ecological Achievements at Wilderness Wood since they took ownership 10 years ago. This was for the free paper publication produced every 2 months and given to members and visitors alike.
Just in case you missed my contribution in Wild Times, here it is reproduced in 100% recyclable electrons:
Wilderness Wood Top Ten Ecological Achievements
Ten is the order of the day it seems. Ten years of Morrish in the Woods. Coincidentally it is 10 years since I too first set foot in Wilderness Wood. In actual fact I don't think I did set foot here since I couldn't get into the car park because a removal van was blocking access. I suspect it was the day Dan and Emily moved in.
Anyway, it was some months later when I wrote and asked if I could volunteer. Emily graciously agreed and so I started volunteering and have been ever since.
The wood and it's ecology have seen a lot of changes over the last 10 years. Here are my top ten - in no particular order:
Ride widening, Jake and various of his many volunteers have been responsible for this activity. Rides are access routes through the wood. Making these paths wider is important for flying insects and insect eating birds. So Jake’s merry band have been cutting back coppice stools next to the rides on a two yearly cycle, to give more space for these flying animals to do their thing.
Creation of the Bat Park heathland. Old maps show that a good chunk of the wood was once devoid of trees, being home to heathland plants, particularly heather. Some years ago a serious fire destroyed much of the heathland. In 2018 a number of volunteers helped me transplanted small heather plants to where they had once grown. Six years later we are well on our way to having a significant area of heathland once again.
Acid lowland grassland at Bat Park (and Marquee Meadow). This was once a traditional habitat found in the High Weald, before farmers were encouraged to use fertilizer and herbicides on their hay meadows. The resultant lush monocultures of grass may have made financial sense, but they destroyed the wildflowers and the animals which relied on them. In 2016 diseased trees at Bat Park had to be felled, so Dan and Emily decided to create a flat terrace in the hillside using a mechanical digger. This terrace was then sown with a grass and wildflower seed mix and eight years on that space is slowly turning into flower rich acid lowland grassland.
Planting of 1600 saplings to make new hedges. Thanks to the Lund Fund we were given a grant to purchase 1600 hedge saplings. You will find these baby hedges at Bat Park, Upper Paddock, Lower Paddock and Middle Paddock. It will however, be a few years yet before they reach full height.
Hedge Laying. Some of our older hedges were getting too big, so Lushka and others had to do some serious ‘pruning’. This is a traditional rural hedge management practice for making stock proof hedges. The hedge shrubs are laid sideways, with the new branches growing vertically, giving a thick, stock proof hedge for many years before eventually having to be laid again.
Building of Leaky Dams. This has been the most obvious activity around the water channels in the wood. The Wilderness Stream may be dry in the summer but can contribute towards serious flooding downstream in the winter. Over the last 3 years we have built 106 of these permeable dams to slow the flood water down and hold back silt. Not only should that reduce flooding in Uckfield and Lewes but it creates boggy areas and seasonal ponds for wildlife in Wilderness Wood.
Recording of Orchids and the management of Orchid Glade. Orchid Glade and Christmas Tree Field support Common Spotted and Twayblade Orchids. These uncommon plants are threatened by habitat loss. Recording numbers and distribution of them informs our management practice to ensure their survival. Last year we only had 24 individual orchid plants, whilst this year we have 62. Most of these are Twayblade Orchid (54), with the Christmas Tree Field being their top preference. The other 8 are all in Orchid Glade.
Creation of the new ponds in the old Penstock Pond. A few years ago we discovered the remains of an old pond once used in the iron making industry of The High Weald. 18 months ago we got funding to dam the Wilderness Stream here and excavate three shallow ponds. These are already rich in breeding frogs and freshwater invertebrates.
Rerouting of the Wilderness Stream through wet woodland. Damming the Wilderness Stream enabled us to return it to its original channel. We then encouraged the channel to form a braided course through the woodland downstream of the new ponds. Over the coming years this wet woodland will attract quite different plants and animals to give a rare habitat called Alder Carr (we hope to extend the wetland further up the valley this coming year and incorporate the new bridge as a viewing platform.)
Control of Rhododendron. Not everything is about restoring the wood to how it used to be. Rhododendron pontecum is an invasive foreign shrub which has few natural predators in the UK. We have been ripping it out of the wood before it destroys the native plants and animals, as it sprawls everywhere and steals the sunlight.
If you want a more detailed account of the above then read my past posts in the wildlife blog at www.wildernesswood.org. Alternatively you can buy a copy of my new book “A Year in the Wilderness by David Horne” £8 from Amazon (or possibly from The Hatch).
David Horne