The Castlerigg Stone Circle is 2 miles from the centre of Keswick. I took the bus bus to the nearest bus stop then had to walk a mile along a narrow lane to reach the stones
There are few stone circles in Britain in such a dramatic setting as that of Castlerigg, which overlooks the Thirlmere Valley with the mountains of High Seat and Helvellyn as a backdrop. … Thought to have been constructed about 3000 BC, it is potentially one of the earliest in the country. … Although there are more than 300 stone circles in Britain, the great majority of them are Bronze Age burial monuments (dating from about 2000–800 BC) containing cremations in central pits or beneath small central cairns. By contrast, their Neolithic forebears, such as Castlerigg, Swinside in the southern part of the Lake District, and Long Meg and her Daughters in the Eden Valley, do not contain formal burials. The Neolithic stone circles also differ from those of the later Bronze Age in their generally larger size and often flattened circular shape – as is found at Castlerigg – comprising an open circle of many large stones. Castlerigg is about 97½ ft (30 metres) in diameter, and formerly comprised 42 stones. There are now only 38 stones, which vary in height from 3¼ ft (1 metre) to 7½ ft (2.3 metres).
Neolithic stone circles typically have an entrance and at least one outlying stone. The entrance at Castlerigg, on the north side of the circle, is flanked by two massive upright stones, and the outlier is presently to the west-south-west of the stone circle, on the west side of the field adjacent to a stile; this stone has been moved from its original position. It has been suggested that such outlying stones had astronomical significance – alignments with planets or stars – although examination of those in early stone circles elsewhere in Britain has shown that there are no consistent orientations for them. English Heritage Castlerigg Stone Circle
I arrived at the stone circle just as the sun was rising, I thought I’d have the stones to myself; how wrong I was!
More sun!
Some of the lichens on the dry stone walls on the tiny lane to Castlerigg .
Parmelia saxatilis Salted Shield Lichen
Cladonia polydactyla
Parmelia omphalodes Smoky Crottle
P. omphalodes was called dark crottle by Scots tweed makers. Gaelic “crotal”: lichens for red/brown dyes.
Stereocaulon vesuvianum
Stereocaulon vesuvianum is a common lichen of upland silicious rock, often on dry stone walls, and I associate it with holidays in the North West. l hadn’t seen it till the last day of my holiday – the last day of my holiday. So I can go home content now! Its pseudopotetia (sticky-up bits) could make you think it’s a Cladonia species
To get to Arnside I took the bus from Keswick (where I was staying) to Penrith; then a train from Penrith to Lancaster then a train from Lancaster to Arnside.
I went to Arnside and Gait Barrows because I knew about Lancaster Whitebeam and wanted to see it; and I wanted to visit a limestone pavement for the first time.
The Arnside and Silverdale area is a National Landscape (Area of Outstanding National Beauty); although I didn’t find that out until after I had visited.
I was welcomed to Arnside by a Herring Gull dressed as a witch eating spiders outside the local chippy.
I arrived just before high tide, just as the tidal bore swept up to the Kent Estuary rail bridge. It was fascinating to watch
On the highest tides, a most unusual sight can be seen in the Kent Estuary in Morecambe Bay called the Arnside Bore. This is one of about twenty tidal bores that occurs in the UK and is named after the village of Arnside. It is quite a spectacle and often draws crowds of onlookers.
The source of the Kent is the Kentmere Valley near Ambleside and the river then flows down through Kendal to Morecambe Bay … When conditions are right, the siren also serves as an indication that the Arnside Bore is approaching from Morecambe Bay. The first blast typically occurs about 15-20 minutes before the wave arrives and the second as it passes New Barns Bay near Blackstone Point. The speed and power of the wave can be most impressive to see. Usually it dissipates on reaching the viaduct but sometimes it travels further inland to Sandside and the mouth of the River Bela Meteo Writer The Arnside Bore in Morecambe Bay
Kent Estuary Rail Bridge
Morecombe Bay is extremely dangerous: The combination of fast tides, quicksands, draining rivers, shifting channels and sheer unpredictability has trapped the unwary for centuries. … 19 Chinese cockle pickers drowned when they were caught by the tide as they laboured for a pittance on Red Bank, two and a half miles from the shore near Boulton-le-Sands.The Guardian Why is Morecombe Bay so dangerous.
The tide was too high to explore the trees on the shoreline of Grubbins Wood, where the Cumbria Wildlife Trust reports Lancashire Whitebean to be. I had to dive straight inland to the wood. Where I was greeted by some friendly bullocks conservation grazing
The wood is dominated by Yew, Sessile Oak and Hazel
Ancient Yew
Peeking through the trees, I saw two Red-Breated Mergansers
To get back to the village of Arnside I had to walk through Copridding Woods and Red Hills
And as I walked out of Grubbins Woods via New Barns, I saw a Great White Egret and Little Egret in foraging in tidal pools
In Copridding Wood, I saw this interesting fungus, Phaeotremella frondosa
Red Hills is acidic limestone heathland with a prodigious number of juniper trees.
After I walked through the woodland to the east of Arnside, I returned to the north of Arnside, where I had initially entered from the train station. By then the tide had receded sufficiently enough for me to walk along the shoreline in front of Grubbins Wood; and I found the Lancaster Whitebeam
Sorbus lancastriensis Lancaster Whitebeam
Sadly with no fruit, its leaf morphology was key to identification
The leaves are broadly oval with a slightly toothed margin and a distinctive pale underside. They are usually unlobed or only faintly lobed near the base, with around 6–8 pairs of lateral veins. The upper surface is dark green, and the underside is whitish and felted – a key feature of whitebeams. In autumn, the foliage turns a muted yellow or brown before falling. Habitat: Cliffs, rocky places, woodland Wild Flower Web Lancaster Whitebeam
Wild Flower Web blog: Lancaster Whitebeam: A Unique and Endangered Tree:
The Lancaster Whitebeam (Sorbus lancastriensis) is a species of tree that is native to England and Wales. It is a species of whitebeam, a group of trees that are closely related to the rowans or mountain ashes. The Lancaster Whitebeam is unique in its appearance and is easily distinguishable from other whitebeams.
One of the most notable features of the Lancaster Whitebeam is its leaves, which are large, lobed, and have a distinctive, glossy appearance. The leaves are also a rich green color, making the tree a beautiful addition to any landscape. Another distinct characteristic of the Lancaster Whitebeam is its fruit, which are large clusters of orange-red berries that are popular with birds and other wildlife.
Despite its beauty, the Lancaster Whitebeam is a threatened species, and its population has been declining in recent years. The main reason for its decline is habitat loss, as the tree’s natural habitats have been destroyed or altered for human development. The tree is also threatened by diseases and pests, which can weaken its health and reduce its ability to produce fruit.
Conservation efforts are underway to protect the Lancaster Whitebeam and its habitat. The tree has been designated as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, which means that action is being taken to conserve and protect it. This includes planting new trees and restoring habitats, as well as monitoring the tree’s population and health.
The Lancaster Whitebeam is a unique and beautiful species of tree that is in danger of disappearing. Its distinctive appearance, attractive fruit, and importance to wildlife make it a valuable addition to the English and Welsh landscape. With proper conservation efforts, it is possible to protect this tree and ensure that future generations can enjoy its beauty.
In addition to its conservation status, the Lancaster Whitebeam has also been found to have potential medicinal uses. The tree’s leaves and bark have been used in traditional medicine for centuries to treat a variety of ailments, including digestive problems and skin conditions. In recent years, there has been growing interest in the potential health benefits of whitebeam species, including the Lancaster Whitebeam. Studies have shown that the tree’s leaves and bark contain compounds that have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral properties, making it a promising source of natural remedies.
Despite this potential, there is still much to be learned about the Lancaster Whitebeam and its medicinal properties. Further research is needed to fully understand its potential health benefits and to determine the most effective ways to use its compounds in medicine.
In addition to its conservation status and potential medicinal uses, the Lancaster Whitebeam is also an important part of the local culture and heritage in England and Wales. The tree has been associated with folklore and legends for centuries, and is considered a symbol of the region’s history and identity.
Overall, the Lancaster Whitebeam is a fascinating and important species of tree that deserves our attention and protection. Its unique appearance, potential medicinal uses, and cultural significance make it a valuable addition to the natural world, and we should work to ensure that it is preserved for future generations to enjoy.
It’s also worth noting that the Lancaster Whitebeam is not just a valuable species in its own right, but also provides important ecosystem services. As a keystone species, it supports a wide range of other species in its ecosystem, from the insects and birds that feed on its fruit, to the fungi and bacteria that decompose its leaves and bark. By preserving the Lancaster Whitebeam, we are also helping to maintain the overall health and diversity of the ecosystem in which it is found.http://www.wildflowerweb.co.uk/plant/1510/lancaster-whitebeam
Next to the Whitebeam was a Spindle Tree, an ancient woodland indicator species.
The coastal rocks were covered in lichess
Tephromella atra with free-living aga living on the thallus. Not especially maritime, … but also rather common in the aerohaline zone [the above the area reached by direct wave action.] Lichens Marines
Gait Barrows NNR
I then walked three mikes through lanes to Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve. The lanes I walked through passed several mosses i.e. lowland bogs.
Whilst I studied Limestone Pavements in A level geology in 1978-80 at school in Brighton, we never visited one as to do so would have been too long a field trip. Moreover, as I only use public transport it is not easy to visit the north where they are. I’ve had a forty-five year wait to see a Limestone Pavement. And it was worth the wait.
A landscape moulded by time.
The landscape at Gait Barrows has been shaped over many thousands of years. Much of the nature reserve lies on ancient Carboniferous limestone which was laid down in warm tropical seas some 300 million years ago. With the influence of more recent mountain building periods that created mountain ranges like the Alps, this bedrock has been flexed and uplifted to give the low hills and crags of the limestone landscape that we are familiar with today.
In the last Ice Age some 14,000 years ago, deep ice covered this part of Northern England and Hawes Water Basin was formed by the deeply scouring ice sheet as it passed from what today are the Cumbrian high fells to the Irish Sea. This deep trough in the limestone was then filled with groundwater to create the Hawes Water we know today.
The intricate features of the limestone pavements have been shaped and modified by glacial action in the last Ice Age, and more recently by rainfall and groundwater.
On the open pavements you will see wide flat blocks called clints, separated by deep fissures known as grikes. Lying on the clint surfaces are shallow gutter-like runnels and pan-like solution cups, which collect and funnel rainwater from the rock surface.Nature England Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve
A Yew. Limestone pavement produces stunted trees due to the paucity of soil in the grykes
There was lots of Nostoc commune; a cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), concentrated into brownish or greenish clumps, on the limestone pavement aften around vascular plants
Views at dusk
As the sun began to fade I walked quickly to Silverdale Railway situation to return to Keswick
You need to be careful at Gait Barrows with clints and grikes trying to break your legs and every direction looking the same. Gait Barrows is a great place to get completely lost. Wild Flowers Lancastrian Whitebeam
I met this Cockerel on the walk to Silverdale Station!
On this Tuesday, I was expecting to go to the southern Borrowdale woods that I hadn’t been able to see the day before, due to the bus being cancelled all day due to flooding. But the bus to Seatoller was still cancelled again due to flooding, so I decided to take the bus to Ambleside to change busses for Skelwith Bridge, where there was some interesting woods; but the bus to Skelwith Bridge was also cancelled due to flooding. The only place I could go to to see some woods, was to take the bus that goes back to Keswick and get off at Rydal.
Rydal has Wordsworth’s House, the famous Rydal Falls and some unnamed broadleaf woodlands that I had noted on the OS map that could be interesting. Some of the most beautiful trees I have seen have been in woods unnamed on maps.
First, I visited the National Trust’s Dora’s Field; a field named by William Wordsworth after his daughter who died at a young age.
Next to Rydal Church stands a field known locally as ‘The Rashfield’. This was originally a wet field where rushes (“rashes”) grew and it later became known as ‘Dora’s Field’. The field was purchased in 1825 by William Wordsworth.
Provoked by the threat of eviction by his landlady Lady Anne Le Fleming who planned to replace the Wordsworth family with a member of her own family, Wordsworth bought the Rashfield, drained it and declared that he intended to build on it. … but Lady Anne withdrew the threat of eviction & Wordsworth remained at Rydal Mount until his death there in 1850.
Having already lost two children in infancy Wordsworth and his wife suffered a third blow when Dora, her father’s favourite, died aged 43 of tuberculosis in 1847. The poet never recovered from the loss of this daughter and, after Dora’s death Wordsworth, his wife Mary, sister Dorothy and a gardener planted the daffodils as a permanent memorial. A Rydal Guide: Dora’s Field
Dora’s field contained some beautiful coppiced and pollarded Sessile Oaks
Then I walked about 500m to visit the Rydal Falls; in the woodland behind Rydal Hall. A few meters aways is Rydal Mount, the “cottage” in which Wordsworth lived. Rydal Falls and Rydal Mount were very popular destination for Victorian tourists
There is not anywhere in England a drive so full of that mingled natural and human interest which makes scenery so impressive. It is well-nigh impossible for sensitive minds not to feel something of ‘the light that never was on sea or land’ as they pass the thresholds of the good and great, whose thoughts have helped our England to be pure. In this coach drive to Keswick they not only go by the homes of the thinkers and poets and philosophers, but their foreheads feel the wind and rain that gave such freshness to the seers of the last generation; the sunlight on lake or mountain head that filled their minds with glory fills ours today. The woods and waterfalls that speak to us upon our way spoke also to them. We can in fancy see their familiar forms upon the road, and, as in eastern travels the ‘weli’ or way-side tomb made the journey’s stage rememberable [sic], so we find in this pilgrim stage through poet-land that the great dead lend it a kind of solemn sweetness, and the dust of two laureates hallows the wonder-giving way. Rawnsley, A Coach-Drive at the Lakes : Windermere To Keswick (1891) , pp. 3–4 quoted in Christopher Donaldson, Ian N. Gregory, Patricia Murrieta-Flores, Mapping ‘Wordsworthshire’: A GIS Study of Literary Tourism in Victorian Lakeland, Journal of Victorian Culture, Volume 20, Issue 3, 1 September 2015, Pages 287–307.
I then took the Coffin Road above Rydal Mount through the unnamed woods.
… at a higher-level running through the meadows of Rydal Park and across the slopes of Nab Scar, is an … [old] track. It dates back a very long time and is called locally, the Coffin Road, due to the fact that the only consecrated ground for burial in the area was the grave yard at St Oswalds in Grasmere and it was therefore used to convey coffins on their final journey.Visit the Lake District – Ambleside to Grasmere – ‘The Coffin Route’
On a drystone wall next to the beginning of the route was this multi-cup “Pixie Cup” Cladonia sp. lichen, possibly C. chlorophaea s.l. (one of the C. chlorophaea aggregate). It was a veritable “Pixie Champagne Fountain”. Maybe a Pixie Wedding occurred there.
The pollarded Sessile Oaks the wood unnamed on the OS map; this looks like pasture woodland but I can find out nothing about this woodland on line
This Hawthorn had epiphytic Polypody fern
and some beautiful epiphytic lichens
Ramalina farinacea
Ramalina farinacea above can look very similar to Usnea (beard) lichens; the way to spot R arinacea is that it has prominent flour-like (farine (French) flour in farinacea) blobs (soredia) on its lobes; Usneas mostly mostly don’t have soredia, but some do, like Usnea subfloridana. Lichen are just hard.
Usnea subfloridana
Usnea ceratina
and this rain-soaked moss, Ulota bruchii. Bruch’s Pincushion
From the path it appeared as if Little Isle in Rydal Water was being engulfed by the rising water of the lake, like the medieval French legend of Ys, which was engulfed by the sea and rises occasionally; beautifully evoked in Debussy’s La Cathedrále Engloutie prelude Click: La Cathedrále Engloutie to listen.
I then walked on further west, along a dry stone wall above woodland (unnamed) under the fell Lord Crag, with fabulous views of Rydal Water
The very red apothecia (fruiting bodies) of this Peltigera sp. lichen, poss. P. horizontalis, really stood out on a dark and rainy afternoon on the very wet dry stone wall
Looking up Lord Crag, pollarded Sessile Oaks. The spots are rain drops on my camera lens
Theses lonely oaks on the foothills of Lords appear “wild”; but pollarding is a human intervention; so even these “wild” veteran trees have been managed across time.
Water pouring over a dry stone wall. It rained all day this Tuesday as it did the day and weekend before
This is the public footpath down to Rydal Water not a waterfall
This is a unnamed waterfall just marked on the OS map as “fall”
From the car park next to the waterfall I got the bus back to Keswick
My waterproof trousers and jacket, that had given up repelling water, drying in the hotel room bathroom; after being sprayed with Durable Water Repellent. Durable Water Repellent is available in nearly the gazillion outdoor shops in Ambleside (where I bought mine) and Keswick
The first day of my five day holiday in Keswick – three of which I had planned to devote to exploring the constituent ancient woods of the NNR – started with initial disappointment. Due to the unprecedent levels of rain on the days before, the only Borrowdale bus (the Stagecoach 78) which runs between Keswick and Seaotoller) was suspended due to road flooding, and the Derwent Launch services were suspended too, because of the height of the water in Derwent Water; so there way of reaching where I wanted to go, Johnny’s Wood – by bus or boat. So, I decide to walk to Great Wood and Arnees Wood from Keswick. This is a 10 mile return walk – and it rained continuously – but it was worth it.
The footpath from Great Wood to Ashness Wood provided fantastic views of Derwent Water; however, as the footpath was an up-and-down path through the foothills of Castlerigg Fell, the footpath was more like a beck than a path. In some places, the water level was above my boots. However good your “waterproof” socks are, there is nothing to do about a top-down inundation. But once the water between your feet and your waterproof socks has warned up to body temperature, it’s fine, and when you are focusing hard on looking at nature you don’t notice your socks being like little swimming pools!
The blue circles mark the constituent woods of the new Borrowdale Rainforest NNR. There are more than those on this map.
The walk along the lake from Keswick to the start of the path up Great Wood.
Herdwick sheep sheltering under a pollarded Sessile Oak
The water level was very high – these Larch were being engulfed by the rising water level
Lichen mosaic on Silver Birch. Lecanora chlarotera/hybocarpa and Putusaria hymenea shows the typical black lines of the “zone of antagonism”
Great Wood
Sessile Oaks
Beech
Polypody Fern on Sessile Oak; epiphytic polypody is characteristic of Atlantic woodland (temperate rain forest)
Overflowing beck next to this tree
Map lichen, Rhizocarpon geographicum (map lichen) on andesite outcrop; igneous rocks of the Borrowdale Formation; very common on hard siliceous rocks
Path between Great Wood and Arshess Wood
Silver Birch, looking across to the west side of Derwent Water to the Cat Bells fells
Ancient Hawthorn
Lichens on this Hawthorn
Oak Moss, Evernea prunastri;
Usnea sp., probably U. cornuta
Usnea sp, probably U. subfloridana
Platismatia glauca
Boulders are always worth investigating in areas of upland siliceous volcanic rock as they are often covered in lichens and bryophytes
These are some of the species on this boulder
Cladonia strepsilis Olive Cladonia
Pleurozium schreberi Red-stemmed Feather Moss
Cladonia ramulosa Branched Pixie-cup Lichen
Porpidia tuberculosa Boulder Lichen
Frequently, it was necessary to cross mini-waterfalls crossing the path that were a consequence of the very high rain over the days proceeding my walk
Looking up at temporary waterfalls caused by high rainfall – image blurred by heavy rain falling on the lens of my camera
Ashness Bridge
Over Barrow Beck
Its image is often seen to be adorning biscuit tins and tea towelsVisits Keswick
Barrow Beck above the bridge, with the bridge stones covered in Rhizocarpon geographicum; very common on upland igneous rocks
Ashness Wood
Characterised by Sessile Oak, Quercus petrea and outcrops of Grange Crags Andesite. Igneous bedrock formed between 458.4 and 449 million years ago during the Ordovician period. British Geological Survey Geology Viewer
A large patch of fertile Ochrolechia androgyna with apothecia, on Sessile Oak. Apothecia are usually absent but when present have a pink-orange disc with a pale margin.British Lichen Society. O. androgyna is present it the southeast, but it is always infertile.
Infertile on Pedunculate Oak in Petworth Park, West Sussex
Billbury Vaccinium myrtillus, characteristic of upland heathland type H12 Calluna vulgaris – Vaccinium myrtillus heath British Plant Communities 1992 Cambridge University Press pp. 492 – 503
Billbury growing epiphytically on a coppiced Sessile Oak
Waterendlech Beck, behind the above Oak
Beyond the beck, Ashness Wood becomes Mossmire Coppice. In Cumbria, “moss” can also mean mire or bog as well as a bryophyte
This part of the wood was upland heathland bog
Billbury with Sphagnum Moss possibly Sphagnum subnitens
Possibly Sphagnum girgensohnii
Bog with trees
The path, like in so many places, had become a beck
Waterendlath Beck at Ladder Brow
Walking back along the lakeside path to Keswick
A path completely flooded
A dry-stone wall at Calfclose Bay, just south of Keswick. Dry stone walls are always worth a look in Cumbria as they often have interesting lichens, bryophytes and ferns growing on them
I got back to Keswick just as the sun was setting and was very wet. Whilst it was a good day, arriving back in Keswick was not an unalloyed pleasure. Keswick is a simulacrum of former real Lakes town; it consists of 10+ outdoor shops selling overpriced outdoor items; pubs that charge a fortune for food, and tourist shops selling Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth memorabilia; a triumph of consumerism over the intrinsic value of the beauty and culture of the Lakes. To capital everything about the Lakes is something to sell to tourists while paying retail and hospitality workers a pittance
I didn’t see any of the lichen species that Neil Sanderson, April Windle and Andy Acton (Atlantic Woodlands in Britain & Ireland .Temperate Rainforests and Southern Oceanic Woodlands) cites as typical of upland or lowland rainforest (see below). But I enjoyed what I did see; I like common beautiful things. Scarcity does not equate to beauty or enjoyment to me.
Some thoughts on the public information about Borrowdale Rainforest National Nature Reserve (NNR). I had to do lots of research to find where its constituent parts are. The National Trust website on the NNR doesn’t have a map and there is no Natural England visitors’ guide as there is for other NNRs. The only way I found out where the parts of the NNR were was by looking at the declaration of NNR map on the government’s website. I then had to cross reference this map with the OS map to find the names of the constituent woods of the NNR.
Borrowdale is a huge geographical area round Derwent and below, that includes ancient woodland, secondary woodland & conifer plantations. I know the difference between ancient woodland, secondary woodland & conifer plantations, but not everyone does. In Keswick Tourist Information, I asked about the Rainforest NNR, they knew nothing about it! The National Trust and Nature England need to get maps and public transport details online & in TICs otherwise few people will visit. You won’t widen participation without adequate information.
Yesterday on Harting Down, there were beautiful skies; the sun with showers forecast turned out to be mostly sunny. The sky was deep blue, and the sun’s beams lit up the gold, yellow, green and red colours of the autumn leaves.
The bostal path up to Harting Down
Probably Quercus faginea, Portuguese Oak; a non-native introduction to a small estate on the escarpment south of South Harting.
On/From the South Harting SSSI summit/plateau
De Stijl Neo-Plasticism. South of South Harting. Green diagonal stripes: Ivy growing up dying Ash. White diagonal stripes: Old Man’s Beard growing up Hawthorn.
This is the follow up to my post of 28.10.25 Large-leaved Lime and Wych Elm at Casey’s Copse and Rook Clift, nr. South Harting, West Sussex. Part I Today I visited the group of Large-Leaved Limes at Rook Clift at SU821182 that I didn’t have time to visit on 28.10.25; listed in the Sussex Rare Plant Register as ca. 80-100 stool and maidens, at SU 822183, in agreement with Rose’s 1991 enumeration. They are to the east of the main path. But it is necessary to walk nearly to the the top of the main path, then walk east then north above the main path. There is a large ditch with a very steep slope between the main path and where the cluster of Large-leaved Limes are.
The pin shows the location of the cluster.
I could not find anywhere near 80-100 Large-Leave Limes; I found far less. There may have been much change since they were first recorded, or may be I didn’t see the extent of the stand
It is worth quoting all of what Francis Rose says of Large-leaved Lime in The Habitats and Vegetation of Sussex (1991) Booth Museum of Natural History, Borough of Brighton
Tilia platyphyllos is now known to occur in at least 16 separate populations along the lower part of the escarpment of the western South Downs, from the Hampshire border (where one ancient tree exists on the actual bank of the ancient county boundary at the Miscombe) east to Springhead Hill southwest of Storrington (TQ 070127), in ten tetrads. It occurs always in ancient, former coppice woodlands, within ancient boundary banks along the lower part of the scarp, never in the (often quite mature) secondary woodland on what was former opensheepwalk. Most of the trees are ancient coppice stools, though on a few sites, what look like ancient pollards occur. Dr Donald Pigott, the authority on Tilia, has visited several of the populations with me, and says that the trees have the characters of the native form of T. platyphyllos, and some of the huge stools may be upwards of 1000 years old. Tilia cordata appears to be absent from the Sussex Chalk scarp in natural situations (though it does occur further west on the Hampshire Chalk).
The best locality so far discovered for T. platyphyllos is at Rook Clift, south of Treyford (SU 822183) where between 50 and 80 trees occur in an almost pure stand, alongside Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra), Field Maple (Acer campestre), Hazel (Corylus avellana) and Whitebeam (Sorbus aria). There is little Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and Beech and Yew are rare and marginal. This type of Tilia-Ulmus-Acer-Corylus woodland was possibly the dominant tree cover of the South Downs escarpment and of other Chalk scarps in southern England in early, perhaps pre-Neolithic times, though then of course, as high forest not coppice; pollen evidence strongly suggests that the present abundance of Beech is comparatively recent and much of it on the Chalk scarps today may derive from earlier plantings.
Whilst there was little Ash, Beech and Yew within the stand of Long-leaved Lime, Wych Elm, Field Maple; there is much Ash, Beech and Yew within the wider area of Rook Clift. I saw no Whitebeam within the stand. From my experience there is little Whitebeam in the lower parts of ancient scarp-face woodland; it is now mostly towards the top of scarp-face woodland and as isolated trees or small groups on the short-grass pasture on the summit areas of the west South downs.
I have visited Casey’s Copse and Rook Clift several times this year; in the Spring, the Summer and now the Autumn. Theses sites were new discoveries for me this year. They will join my list of favourite sites in Sussex, that I love so much, I visit them every season every hear e.g. The Mens, Ebernoe Common, Eridge Rocks, Eridge Park, Newtimber Holt. I first visited Casey’s Copse with a friend who knew the site.
I reached these woods by bus and train. I get the train to Chichester and then the 54 bus to South Harting. The South Harting bus only goes 5 times a day; so careful planning is needed! It is about an hour walk from South Harting to the bottom of Rooks Clift; I walk along the footpaths and trackways along the flat arable fields of the scarp foot (from road just before Knightsfield). It is possible to reach Rooks Clift along he South Downs Way, but that takes about three hours as the walk is extremely undulating. The 54 bus will drop you off where the B2141 crosses the South Downs Way; whilst it is not an official stop most drivers will drop you off there.
These sites are west South Downs escarpment ancient woodland. Some of these western scarp wood appear to be very old, possibly primary, from such evidence is available. South-East of East Harting ancient woodland (with Ash, Wych Elm and Large Leaved Lime …) occur. Francis Rose (1995) The Habitats and Vegetation of Sussex. The Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton Borough Council p.9
Rose’s comment that these scarp woods are possibly primary, suggested that this woodland may have been part of the “wildwood” that covered the Downs until the dip slope woods were cleared for sheep farming, from the neolithic (ca. 5000-4000 BCE) onwards. see: Peter Brandon (1998) The South Downs
Until the late 1980s Large-leaved Lime was regarded as introduced in Sussex, but is now thought by Francis Rose and others to be native on the downland scarp in West Sussex. … Since 1987, when coppiced T. platyphyllos stools were discovered at Springhead as detailed in Briggs (1990), around 30 sites have been found on the scarp in Hampshire and W. Sussex. Most trees are within ancient copses surrounded by wood banks towards the foot of the scarp. Some border old tracks and a number perch upon ancient parish boundaries. The Sussex Rare Plant Register of Scarce & Threatened Vascular Plants, Charophytes, Bryophytes and Lichens (2001) Mary Briggs, Paul Harmes and Alan Knapp et. al pp. 100-101 Available on line Sussex Botanical Recording Society
List of native Large-Leaved Limes from the Sussex Rare Plant Register:
Casey’s Copse is within the Harting Down SSSI; Rook Clift is its own SSSI, just to the east of Harting Down SSSI near Treyford
The SSSI citation for Harting Down does not mention the presence of Large-Leaved Lime; but the citation was last revised in 1980; 45 years ago. Many SSSI specifications are very old now, and don’t represent current knowledge of sites. The Rooks Clift citation is much more accurate, and is more recent (1997); although it misses out the huge amount of Solomon’s Seal on the slopes of the stream valley.
From South Harting SSSI specification: Longer-established woodland occurs throughout the site, with a varied composition according to soil type and aspect. Beech Fagus sylvatica is common and becomes dominant on the scarp-face and valley sides. Oak Quercus robur and ash occur with yew on the deeper valley loams. The ground flora is quite sparse beneath the densest canopies, but elsewhere includes bramble Rubus fruticosus, ivy Hedera helix, dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis and false-brome Brachypodium sylvaticum.
From the Rook Clift SSSI specificationRook Clift is a small wooded combe on the scarp slope of the South Downs. The soils are predominantly calcareous in nature, overlying the chalk of the Downs. Deeper soils occur at the foot of the slope, and also the course of a stream, arising within the wood. This site is an ancient woodland which remains in a semi-natural condition. Large leaved lime Tilia platyphyllos dominates the canopy, together with ash Fraxinus excelsior and some beech Fagus sylvatica. Large leaved lime is a nationally scarce tree, with its natural range concentrated on the limestones of the Wye Valley and Peak District. Thus the high concentration of mature coppice stools, occurring on chalk, make this site nationally important and unique within West Sussex and the South Downs Natural Area. The canopy of large leaved lime, together with some beech casts a heavy shade, and as a result the shrub layer is poorly developed with scattered whitebeam Sorbus aria and yewTaxus baccata.
The field layer is dominated by vernal species such as ramsons Allium ursinum and bluebell Endymion non-scripta, or shade tolerant species including dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis, spurge laurel Daphne laureola and sanicle Sanicula europaea. The steep sided valley around the steam is more open with a canopy dominated by ash and wych elm Ulmus glabra. Here the field and ground layers are more developed with stands of hart’s tongue fern Phyllitis scolopendrium and soft shield fern Polystichum setiferum abundant, and opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage Chrysosplenium oppositifolium common along the stream side.
Both Casey’s Copse and Rooks Clift are designated by Nature England as ancient and semi-natural woodland. Looking at the Nature England ancient woodlands maps, it is clear that ancient woodland on the South Downs is mostly confined to the escarpments. There is much woodland in the Harting Down SSSI, but the dip slope woodland is not ancient.
Looking up to the scape-slope woodland before reaching Casey’s Copse, green-orange Beech and dark green Yew stand out from the dying Ash.
Casey’s Copse
The boundary bank at the scarp foot of mostly coppiced Ash. Scarp foot coppiced Ash seems to be less effected by Ash dieback than the maidens on the scarp slopes. Features like this tell us that most ancient woodland included much human intervention
Some of the coppiced Large-Leaved Limes:
Looking through dead/dying Ash maidens toward Beech:
Coppiced lime with a maiden Ash next to it
Looking though Soft Shield Fern at Beech
A Fox Skull next to a Long-leaved Lime leaf. In English folklore Long-Leaved Limes are associated with love, fertility, and justice. I hope the fox had lots of cubs!
A seemingly very ancient coppiced Long-Leaved Lime
Some of the lichens on this lime: Pertusaria leioplaca, Graphis scripta s.l. (Writing Lichen); Pertusaria pertusa (Pepper Pot Witing). All of these are common on smooth-barked trees like Beech, Sweet Chestnut and Lime
Walking along a hollow-way trackway at the foot of the downs, on gault clay. Trees: Hawthorn, Field Maple, Hazel
Hedgerow, from when the hollow-way ends.
One of a flock of about eight Yellow Hammers in the hedgerow
Path to the base of the bostal up Rooks Clift
Coppiced Ash along the path
Rooks Clift
Trackway up the north side pf the clift (variant of cleft, geographical: meaning a fissure or break)
Beech on the edge of the steep slope into the valley (clift) formed by a stream fed by a chalk spring
Yew
Soft Shield Fern
Beech
False Brome
Dogs Mercury
Fungus (probably Armillaira sp.) in the process of deliquescing
Going down the south side of the clift
Solomon’s Seal – extremely abundant
At this point if I had turned south and walked on I would have come to the grove of ca. 80 Long-Leaved Limes; but if I had done that I would have had to have walked back to South Harting as it got dark; that did not feel safe, so I am returning to Rook Clift on Saturday – watch out for Part II of this post!!!
Wych Elm
young Wych Elm tree (leaves to left; leaves on right, Hazel))
View from the south side f Rooks Clift to the north side: Beech and dying Ash
Hazel
Sunken trackway bedside the path on south side of clift
full of Harts-tongue Fern; extremely abundant, as in many South Downs hanger woods
Bank of sunken trackway with coppiced Beech
Back to the scarp foot path
White Poplar
Getting dark – back along the hedged trackway
Getting darker -past a field of Sunflowers
Terrible photo of a Raven at dusk
For most of the afternoon I had heard Ravens kwaaking overhead; it gave Rooks Clift a more Poe-like Ravens Clift feel!
This shaw has no name. I visit it frequently because it has a special charm; it encapsulates the essence of the small parcels of ancient woodland in the Low Weald; a landscape that has preserved its medieval patten of fields, hedgerows, shaws and woodlands. To get to it I walk through Bushygrove and Bakers shaws, named shaws of a similar character to this unnamed shaw. I take the 17 bus from Brighton to Cowfold to reach it.
A shaw is a strip of woodland usually between 5 and 15 metres wide. Shaws mostly form boundaries between fields. They are usually composed of semi-natural woodland and often have diverse woodland ground vegetation similar to other semi-natural woodlands in the area. In the Low Weald shaws may be the relicts of former larger woods, or they may have developed from narrower hedgerows. A look at the Natural England map of ancient woodland shows how many shaws in West Sussex are semi-natural ancient woodland
All sections of text in italics are quotations; sources given at the end of the quotes.
Most of the Wealden hedgerows – including shaws (narrow belts of woodland remaining when fields have been cut from woodlands) – are likely to date from the time of medieval assarts (fields derived from the general, unplanned clearance of woodlands and unenclosed commons by individuals). In Mid Sussex, as elsewhere in the Weald, there are relatively few hedgerows stemming from the formal enclosure of fields. The Weald appears to have a significant proportion of species rich/ancient hedgerows, revealed by the frequency of indicator species such as field maple, spindle and hazel. However, the data is not yet available to assess with any degree of accuracy the number, length and type of hedgerows in Sussex and its Districts. Mid Sussex District Council (2005) A Landscape Character Assessment For Mid Sussex.
Shaws are important relicts of long-lost woodland: In 1210 Beeding Manor had outlying farms in Cowfold and in 1256 the Bishop of Chichester’s chase extended down the whole East side of Cowfold Parish across to the Southwest corner and from there to near the centre of the northern boundary of the Parish. By 1257 the Cowfold tenants, customary and free, formed a distinct group. A large proportion of the Parish was woodland or orchards and remained so until the mid 18th century. Cowfold Parish Council. (2024) Cowfold Neighbourhood Plan 2019-2031. p.9
I am writing this post to “big-up” the biological importance of small, especially unnamed, shaws: to draw attention to the beauty of small patches of woodland. They are greatly under threat from development. There are many new housing development in-between the South Downs north of Brighton and the High Weald, in the Low Weald, transacted by the A281 (Pyecombe to Horsham) and the A273 (Pyecombe to Haywards Heath. As I travel on the 17 bus on the A281 or the buses 270,271, or 272 on the A273, I see the continuous building of new housing, and plans for housing are continually presented to planning authorities e.g. The Argus (21/02/25) Plans for dozens of homes near Cowfold are revealed
Sussex sits between two immovable features—the coast of the English channel and Greater London. In many places, it is the only ribbon of truly green land preventing unbroken concrete from connecting the two. … we have a legal commitment to net zero, but we are building homes in the middle of nowhere whose occupants are wholly reliant on a car to go anywhere. Andrew Griffith MP Arundel and South Downs Hansard Housing Developments: West Sussex Volume 679: debated on Monday 7 September 2020
The Low Weald lacks the higher level of protection of the South Downs, which is a National Park, and the High Weald, a National Landscape (area of outstanding natural beauty), not that that necessarily offers between protection in practice to the South Downs and High Weald
I became aware of this shaw from a map of Wild Service Trees
in Dave Bang’s excellent book.(2018) The Land of the Brighton Line: A Field Guide to the Middle Sussex and Southeast Surrey Weald 018 ISBN: 978095486382
This unnamed shaw has large maiden trees – Wild Service, Pedunculate Oak, and Ash – with an understory of Field Maple, Hazel, Hawthorn, Wild Cherry and Midland Thorn. Wild Service, Midland Thorn and Wild Cherry are ancient woodland indicators.
It’s ground flora includes the ancient woodland indicators Bluebells and Wood Anemone, in the Spring, and Butchers Broom, all year round. In a nearby stand Spurge-Laurel and Wood Spurge can be found.
This blog does not attempt to be a full survey of the vascular plants in this shaw; it is just the things I found particularly noticeable.
Ancient Woodland Indicators visible in Autumn
Sorbus torminalis Wild Service Tree
Trunk. This trunk of a maiden Wild Service Tree is covered in lichen so it hard to see the trunks morphology
Most Wild Service Trees have few lichens from my experience, but on the side which gets most light this tree had abundant lichens.
This trunk in the shaw shows the typical bark of Wild Service Tress; many Wild Service Trees in the Low Weald have been coppiced into two trunks. (e.g. the large Wild Service Tree in Furzefield Wood nr. West Grinstead and the numerous Wild Service Trees of West Wood nr. Burgess Hil)
Leaves and fruit
Crataegus laevigata, Midland Thorn
Trunk and leaves
Fruit
Midland Thorn has two (or more) seeds in their haws, whereas Hawthorns have only one
This Midland Thorn Flower on 29/04/25; with twin stigmas
Prunus avium Wild Cherry
Wild Cherries can be identified just by their trunk morphology which is so characteristic. However, in spring their white flowers are very characteristic; and in summer so are their berries. However, ripe berries are almost immediately eaten by birds; if you are lucky enough to see them, they make a very nice fruity snack on a walk
Wild Cherry flowers from a tree in Baker’s Shaw; 400m south of this (unnamed shaw) in the Spring
Malus sylvestris,Crab Apple – Fruit.
Theses crab apples trees were in Bushygrove Shaw. Crab Apples are easiest to identify in Autumn when their fruits are on the forest floor; just look up and you’ll see the tree(s) they came from. This autumn is a “mast year” when fruits from trees are abundant.
Ruscus aculeatusButchers Broom
Butchers broom is a shrub which grows under trees in ancient woodlands; it’s leaves and flowers are very characteristic. Butcher’s broom leaves are not true leaves but are actually flattened stems called cladodes, with sharp spikes on the ends of the cladodes. Its flowers bloom in very early spring; and female flowers produce berries in Summer, which persist into Autumn
Butchers broom is known as an ‘ancient woodland indicator’. This is because it doesn’t colonise new habitats or spread easily to new woods; where it is growing, the wood has usually been there for a very long time. … Look beneath the deciduous trees, even in the more shaded areas.
Butchers broom is quite unlike any other British plant. It is a short evergreen bush growing up to about two feet high and all the leaves end in a pointed spike; one of its old English names is ‘knee holly’. In early spring, the tiny, pale green six-petalled flowers sit in the middle of the leaf and show that these leaves are, technically, flattened stems.
Butchers broom was used to scour butcher’s blocks until the nineteenth century. The spiky leaves seem ideal for getting into the cuts of old wooden blocks to clean them.New Forest National Park Butchers Broom
Fruit:
Ancient Woodland Indicators seen on other visits:
Euphorbia amygdaloides Wood Spurge seen on 29.08.24 in Baker’s Shaw; 400m south of this (unnamed shaw)
Anemonoides nemorosaWood Anemone 16.04.25
Carex sylvatica Wood Sedge – seen on 29.08.24 in Baker’s Shaw; 400m south of this (unnamed shaw)
The locations of Bushygrove and Baker’s Shaws
Map above from iNaturalist community. Observation of Euphorbia amygdaloides from Cowfold, Sussex observed on 29/08. Exported from https://www.inaturalist.org on 25.10.25 showing Bushygrove and Bakers Shaw
Detail of Bushygrove and Bakers Shaw
Hyacinthoides non-scripta Bluebell in Spring 29.04.25
Daphne laureola Spurge-Laurel
In Baker’s Shaw; 400m south of this (unnamed shaw)
The large maidens, with “white” lichen-covered bark, are Ash, Pedunculate Oak (and Wild Service)
The understory is Hawthorn, Field Maple, Hazel, Holly (and Midland Thorne)
Quercus roburPedunculate Oak
Pedunculate Oaks leaves and acorns in autumn are very distinctive. In some areas of the Low Weald, especially on the Greensand Ridge there are Sessile Oaks, e.g. at Rakes Hanger, near Liss (hanger in West Sussex)
Trunk of Pedunculate Oak. The sides of trunks which receive most light are often covered in lichens. This maiden Oak is on the edge of the shaw
This Oak also has a beautiful fingus growing on it:
Phaeotremella foliacea Leafy Brain
Fraxinus excelsior Ash
This maiden Ash, on the edge of the Shaw, is typical of an Ash with Ash Dieback Disease, with no leaves (in October, whilst Ash is deciduous, you would except to see some leaves)
When Ash has leaves their leaves are very characteristic; as are their samaras.
Samaras are the winged, single-seeded fruits, commonly called “ash keys, that can be seen in Autumn and Winter within the shaw were healthier Ash showing these features:
Ash is an extremely important tree for lichens; it is the tree species with the second highest diversity of lichens, according to the British Lichen Society
Ash dieback will kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK. At a cost of billions, the effects will be staggering. It will change the landscape forever and threaten many species which rely on ash.
Varicellaria hemisphaerica is a rare UK lichen, and it is on the Ash on the south-facing edge of the shaw; this Ash is dying
I walked this route twice; once on my own (4/10/25) and once with a friend (13/10/25). The first time I got the 29 bus from Brighton and got off at Perryman’s Lane and got on at Barnsgate manner.
The sighting I enjoyed most (on 13/10/25) was a Minotaur Beetle, Typhaeus typhoeus, on Devil’s-Fingers, Clathrus archeri, under Bracken beside the path. Clathrus archeri is also called Octopus Stinkhorn because is stinks of rotting organic matter, which attracted the Minotaur Beetle (a dung nettle) who then obligingly propagated the fungus’ spores. I had read about Clathrus archeri‘s ability to attract spore-disseminators through scent; but it was great to see this in the field. Minotaur beetles emerge as adults in the autumn. Males like this one, die after mating
Clathrus archeri is not native; it was accidentally introduced from New Zealand in materials sent to Britain from New Zealand for ANZAC stationed in the UK during WWI
The route we took is marked in pink. The route passes through the southern part of Ashdown Forest. British Geological Survey: Ashdown Formation – Sandstone and siltstone, interbedded. Sedimentary bedrock formed between 145 and 133.9 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. Rocks Wood, Furnace Wood, Payne’s Hill and Campfields Rough is designated by Nature England as Ancient and Semi-Natural Woodland
The yellow-green areas on the map are Access Land and are the parts of Ashdown Forest that still is common land. The resistance of the commoners to the enclosure of Ashdown Forest in the 17th century resulted in almost half the original Forest remaining as common land
The website First Nature – Fungi is extremely useful for identification and for information about UK fungi
This is not a complete list of all the fungi we saw; it is a list of the fungi I took a reasonable photo of!
04/10/25
Russula claroflava, Yellow Swamp Brittlegill, under Silver Birch
Lactarius quietus Oakbug Milkcap, under a Pendunculate Oak Oakbug milkcap is an important mycorrhizal species for oak trees, forming cooperative relationships with oak roots.Woodland Trust
Amanita muscaria Fly Agaric. Very common, often associated with Birch
This Fly Agaric has contorted to form a goblet shape (13/10/25)
Siberian use of fly agaric may have played a part in the development of the legend of Santa Claus too. At midwinter festivals the shaman would enter the yurt through the smoke hole and down the central supporting birch pole, bringing with him a bag of dried fly agaric. After conducting his ceremonies he would leave the same way he had come. Ordinary people would have believed the shaman could fly himself, or with the aid of reindeer which they also knew to have a taste for fly agaric. Santa is now dressed in the same colours as the fly agaric, carries a sack with special gifts, comes and goes via the chimney, can fly with reindeer and lives in the ‘Far North’.Trees for Life: Fly Agaric Folklore
Coprinus comatus Shaggy Inkcap
A somewhat sketchy sketch of a Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus) drawn using the ink produced by a fellow Shaggy Inkcap! by Jane Baxter
Amanita rubescens Blusher
Blushers are mycorhizal with hardwood and softwood trees; they are particularly abundant in many conifer forests on poor acidic soils, where they occur in small groups more often than singly. First Nature
Leccinum aurantiacum Orange Bolete
Widespread and abundant in Scandinavia and in Scotland, but it is increasingly rare further south, especially in lowland areas. … All Leccinum species are ectomycorrhizal, and most are found only with one tree genus. Leccinum aurantiacum is mycorrhizal most commonly with poplars and aspen (Populus species) and with oak trees (Quercus species); less often it occurs with other broadleaf trees including beech and birches.First Nature
Cortinarius violaceus Violet Webcap
In Britain and Ireland, where it is a very rare find, the Violet Cortinarius grows … rich woodland habitats mainly under Beeches and other broadleaf trees but also very occasionally with conifers. This is a mushroom of late summer and autumn.First Nature Red data list: near threatened. A mycorrhizal mushroom found in deciduous woodland
Amanita fulva Tawny Grisette
Initially egg-shaped, the cap expands to become flat but with a small raised central area (an umbo). The edge of the cap is striated (with comb-like radial ridges). Amanita fulva is mycorhizal with hardwood and softwood trees; it is commonly found beside woodland paths. First Nature
Amanita phalloides Deathcap
It is said that Agrippina murdered her husband, Roman Emperor Claudius, by mixing deathcap juice with Caesar’s mushrooms (Amanita caesarea). He died of poisoning a few days after the meal. Voltaire claimed that Charles VI died by deathcap poisoning.Woodland Trust
13.10.25
Clavulina cinerea Grey Coral Fungus. In leaf litter in Furncae Wood (Hornbeam, Oak a and Scots Pine) Considered to be mycorrhizal; on the ground beneath deciduous trees as well as conifers; usually where there is a build up of leaf litter. First Nature
Boletus edulis Penny Bun.
Weighty, fat cap like a crusty, well-baked bun. It is slugs (including the scarce lemon slug (Malacolimax tenellus), several species of mushroom fly, as well as other insects and their larvae. Mythology and symbolism. … In folklore it is said that the best time to hunt for penny bun and other ceps is when it’s a full moon. … They are called porcini (little pigs) in Italy, cep (trunk, because of the fat stem) in France and Steinpilz (stone mushroom) in Germany.Woodland Trust
Lactarius quietus Oakbug Milkcap, under Oak (Quercus robur)
Mycorrhizal with oak trees. Although Lactarius quietus could be confused with several other medium-sized pale brown milkcaps, the fact that it occurs only under oak trees is a great help in identifying this speciesFirst Nature
When identifying fungi, what trees thet are near too is very important to identification.
Lactarius torminosus Woolly Milkcap
Mycorrhizal, found under birch trees nearly always in damp places.First Nature
Datronia mollis Common Mazegill
Datronia is a genus of poroid crust fungi Datronia mollis fungi cause a white rot in broadleaf trees. It is saprobic fungus. saprobic fungus. Its is not a parastic fungis which live on or in a living host, and eventually kill it; saprobic fungi feed on dead material. Saprobic fungi play a major role in breaking down and recycling wood and other forest debris, creating healthy soil, and freeing up nutrients for microbes, insects, and growing plants. Mount Rainier Park Service
Mycena rosea Rosy Bonnet
Like many other species in the genus Mycena, the Rosy Bonnet is reported to be bioluminescent, emitting a weak green light (wavelength in the region of of 520 to 530 nanometres). … Saprobic, among leaf litter in deciduous woods and mixed woodland.First Nature
Suillellus queletii Deceiving Bolete
Occasional in southern Britain but increasingly rare further north. … Suillellus queletii is an ectomycorrhizal fungus; it is usually found growing on alkaline soil beneath hardwood trees, notably oaks but also beech and limesFirst Nature
Ectomycorrhizal fungi … are intimately associated with the roots of most temperate tree species. Hyphae, the thread-like filaments of fungi, wrap around the root tips of the tree and through them water uptake and nutrient exchange take place. The hyphae are also known to provide trees with a degree of resistance from drought and also serve as a protective barrier from diseases.
Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are intimately associated with most temperate tree species and have demonstrated important and rapid shifts in species composition and abundance in response to a range of environmental stresses (e.g. droughts, eutrophication and/or acidification of forest soils).
Monitoring of changes in ECM fungal communities might, as a result, serve as a sensitive early warning indicator of environmental change that has the potential to be disruptive to trees. This might develop where environmental change, such as the eutrophication of forest soils, interferes with the varied functional roles of ECM, including the vital roles of facilitating carbon, nutrient and water uptake in trees. Forest Research
Laccaria amethystina Amethyst Deceiver
During dry spells the caps and stems of Laccaria laccata become much paler and eventually almost white. The specimen seen here is not yet completely dry; its cap is becoming paler from the centre. Eventually, Amethyst Deceivers become pale buff, as do the common Deceivers. This makes identification of old specimens even more difficult. … Among leaf litter in all kinds of woodland but particularly plentiful under beech trees, with which it is ectomycorrhizal. First Nature
“Mycorrhizal” is a broad term for a symbiotic relationship between fungi and plant roots, while ectomycorrhizal is a specific type of mycorrhizal relationship where the fungus forms a sheath outside the root cells and does not penetrate them. The other main type, endomycorrhizal (also called arbuscular), involves the fungus penetrating and entering the root cell. sThe other main type, endomycorrhizal (also called arbuscular), involves the fungus penetrating and entering the root cells. Wenchen Song (2024) Ectomycorrhizal fungi: Potential guardians of terrestrial ecosystems
Paxillus involutus Brown Roll-Rim
Brown Rollrim is classified as a gilled member of the order Boletales, and like the boletes themselves it forms ectomycorrhizal relationships with tree. First Nature
Russula nigricans Blackening Brittlegill
Russula nigricans, the Blackening Brittlegill, is a very variable species in terms of its size, shape and colour: it changes in each of these respects quite markedly as it matures, eventually becoming black all over. … The Blackening Brittlegill is, like other Russula species, ectomycorrhizal.
The content of this blog entails many topics, including the history, geography and geology of the landscape through which I walked; literature, music and mythology associated with this landscape, and landscape conservation & land ownership. The purpose of this blog is not to provide coherent arguments about any of the issues these topics raise, but to explore further the thoughts and feelings that came to into my mind as I walked through this historic Sussex landscape, through post-walk reflection and research.
The history of the name Weald
During the Roman colony of Britannia (43 to ca. 410),the Low and High Weald was called, by Latin speakers, Anderida Silva (Wood of Anderida), after Anderida (present-day Pevensey), a Saxon shore fort (source: Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 491), as then woodland covered most of Sussex and surrounded Anderida. When the Saxons settled Sussex from the 5th century (Kingdom of Sussex absorbed into Kingdom of Wessex in 825), the Low and High weald was initially called just Andred (Saxon Chronicles 785 and 893); and then Andredesweald (Andred’s Wood) (Saxon Chronicles 1018). Following the Norman Conquest, the name was shortened just to the Weald (used in the Doomsday Book 1068). Sources: Peter Brandon (2003) The Kent and Sussex Weald, Ch6. The Saxon and Jutish Andredesweald and Marc Morris (2021) The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: Ch1 The ruin of Britain
The distinction of Low and High Weald was made by 20th-century geographers and geologists and policy makers.
What is the Low Weald?
The Low Weald is the eroded outer edges of the High Weald, largely coinciding with the outcrop of Weald Clay but with narrow bands of Gault Clay and the Lower and Upper Greensands which outcrop close to the scarp face of the South Downs. Natural England. National Character Area 121: Low Weald
All of the UK’s landscapes are under threat from development in a growth-focussed political climate, however the High Weald has a slightly higher level of protection from development than the Low Weald, from its status as a National Landscape (Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB)) see: HM Government: Areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs): designation and management, as does the South Downs because of its status as a National Park. Counter-intuitively the area of low weald between Fittleworth and the Mens, mostly land in the parish of Fittleworth is within the South Downs National Park. The vast majority of the low weald is not in the South Downs National Park.
The South Downs National Park Authority records the habitat types of the land in the Parish of Fittleworth, the parish through which my walk passed.
The dark green areas on this map are all, according to the South Downs habitat map, semi-natural broadleaf woodland. This is probably because the Natural England ancient woodland database says they are. But when you walk through them this is clearly not the case. The Mens and Hammonds Wood clearly are Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW), which is largely of natural origin; however Fittleworth Wood, owned by the Stopham Estate, is very clearly not, it is Ancient Replanted Woodland, as Natural England designates Felxham Park, which is exactly the same Sweet Chestnut planting as Fittleworth Wood. When national bodies like the South Downs Park Authority and Natural England miscategorise ancient woodland, it does not engender much confidence that ancient woodland is being protected
AONBs are areas of countryside that include villages and towns. They have the same legal protection for their landscapes as national parks, but don’t have their own authorities for planning control and other services like national parks do. Instead they are looked after by partnerships between local communities and local authorities.National Parks UK: National Parks Are Protected Information Sheet
However, having planning determined by the South Downs Authority does not necessarily lead to the protection of nature. The SDNPA gave consent to the Towner Gallery’s plan to develop an arts centre on the Black Robin Farm sight at Beachy Head.
Simon Hurt, a retired Eastbourne Borough Council employee, wrote: “The change of use from quiet farm to urbanised tourist attraction is quite profound for a site surrounded by nationally and internationally recognised scenery and habitat. “The major flaw in the report is that it deals very little with the impact on the land beyond the development site boundary.“This may well satisfy the regulations but in doing so it perpetuates the ‘business-as-usual’ mentality that continues to prevail despite proclamations of ‘climate emergency’ and carbon neutral pledges.” Rebecca Maer (17.10.2023) The Black Robin Farm projectEastbourne Reporter
An irony of this ludicrous planning decision is that a year before consent was given, the Towner had an exhibition called Melting Ice | Rising Tides Emma Stibbon’s first large-scale show at a major UK institution acts as a stark reminder that the seemingly remote events of polar ice sheet melt are directly connected with the changes we are witnessing in our local, more familiar UK landscape. The Black Robin development is likely to massively increase car usage, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and thus increasile global heating. We should not assume that public bodies make good decisions. In the UK, the rhetoric of climate change concern is not reflected in the actions of public and private bodies
The landscape of the Low Weald of Sussex is particularly vulnerable, sandwiched between the South Downs and the High Weald National Landscapes, to development. When I travel on busses across the Low Weald, which I do frequently, I see large numbers of housing developments obliterating the medieval landscape of the (low) weald.
But there is some recognition of this in the funding of the Lost Woods of the Low Weald & Downs a National Lottery funded project managed by the Woodland Trust in partnership with Action in Rural Sussex, Sussex Wildlife Trust and Small Woods Association. In the past, the Low Weald hasn’t attracted as much protection, support and funding as its neighbours. Now Natural England has identified the Low Weald as an ‘outstanding’ priority for woodland conservation. We’re [Lost Woods of the Low Weald and Downs] here to make sure these woods get the protection they deserve.Lost Woods of the Low Weald & Downs: Protection for the Lost Woods of the Low Weald Whether or not this project will protect low weald ancient woodland remains to be seen. I live in hope, and volunteer for the project surveying lichens and leading lichens walks in the hope that that will increase the public’s understanding of the importance of low weald ancient forests.
A map of the Lost Woods of the Low Weald and Downs area. (N.B the landscape that this walk entailed is not in the Lost Woods project area).
Being drawn toward the past
All cities are geological. You can’t take three steps without encountering ghosts bearing all the prestige of their legends. We move within a closed landscape whose landmarks constantly draw us toward the past. Chtcheglov, ‘Formulary for a New Urbanism’
The extracts of Ordnance Surveys in this blog are screen shots from Explore OS Maps on-line or which a paid subscription is required to access
In Fittleworth Wood: my heart sinks; but the past pokes through.
Walking north of Fittleworth along the Serpents Trail, you soon pass through the southwest part of Fittleworth Woods, around Sellings; owned by the Stopham Estate
Here, as in many areas of Sussex, ancient woodland has been felled and replanted with Sweet Chestnut. The main Chestnut area in Great Britain is concentrated in the southern counties of Kent and Sussex, where extensive stands of commercial coppice, amounting to some 18,000 hectares were planted in the mid 19th century. . Everyday Nature Trails: Sweet Chestnut
When I walk through this soulless replanted woodland, I try to imagine its former age-oldness
In this mostly monocultural desert, relicts of the past can still just be seen, and they help me imagine what this landscape was like; such as as medieval boundary banks, with Oak and Beech growing on them (naturally regenerated from previous planted Beech and Oak; and coppiced as was the traditional practice in planted boundary banks) and maiden (un-pollarded) Pedunculate Oaks “abandoned” in sea of Sweet Chestnut
Sweet Chestnut monoculture
Ancient boundary bank
Maiden Oak in Sweet Chestnut Plantation
Lithersgate Commons
Walking north from Sellings/Fittleworth Wood, I walked through Lithersgate Common. There are no signs that tell you that you are walking through a common; you can only know that by looking at the OS map and seeing its name and seeing it is marked as Access Land. Access Land in Woodland Areas is often land that still has common rights. But it is very hard for the general public to know what those rights are.
OS Map Key
All land in England and Wales, including common land, is privately owned. Indeed, larger areas of common land may have many different owners. It’s a widely-held misconception that citizens at large or “commoners” own common land. Instead, what makes the land “common” is the common rights attaching to it, not its ownership. Most common land is now “open access land” giving public right of access to it.
In many cases, rights of common do not just include access. The rights attaching to common land vary depending on the rights granted to the commoners in that particular place. These rights typically reflect the historical needs of the rural poor. They may include rights of:
Pasture for animals;
Pannage – the right to allow pigs to feed off acorns and beechnuts;
First enshrined in law in the Magna Carta in 1215, Common Land traditionally sustained the poorest people in rural communities who owned no land of their own, providing them with a source of wood, bracken for bedding and pasture for livestock. Over one-third of England’s moorland is common land.
At one time nearly half of the land in Britain was Common Land, but from the C16th onwards the gentry excluded Commoners from land which could be ‘improved’ through agriculture. That is why most Common Land is now found in areas with low agricultural potential, but areas which we know hold value for high conservation significance and natural beauty.
To find out what Rights of Common a common has, you need to make an appointment to see the Register of Common Land held by the Local Authority in which the land is located; for Lithergate Common that is West Sussex County Council. If I owned a few pigs and I wanted to take them to Lithersgate Common so they could munch acorns and beech mast in Autumn I would need to check the West Sussex Commons Register to see if I could do that!
Before the enclosure of lands (which started in the medieval period but greatly accelerated in the 17th and 18th centuries), there was much common land, and ordinary people knew their rights of local commons. Now there is little common land, and few people know where commons are and even fewer know what rights are attached to that common land and who can use those rights.
In the New Forest, the right of Pannage (aka The Common Mast) is still respected. This year, common pig grazing will take place between Monday 15th September 2025 to Sunday 4th January 2026. This year, Pannage has been extended this year due to a heavy acorn crop this year. See New Forest Pigs and Pannage
An online search reveals that the status of Lithersgate Common as a common was disputed in 1978 by Captain Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot, Baronet. The fact that Lithersgate Commons is still marked on the OS map as Common Access Land implies that Captain Sir Brian Walter de Stopham Barttelot’s dispute was not upheld.
The lands of the Bartelots of Stopham are a paradigmatic example of the continuity of aristocratic ownership from the Norman Conquest to the present day of much of the Sussex landscape.
… the Barttelots of Stopham have been ‘remarkably stationary both in place and condition’. It is more than likely that they descend from the Norman, Ralph, who held the manor at the time of the ‘Domesday’ survey in 1086. Stopham was one of numerous manors in Shropshire and Sussex granted by William the Conqueror to his close associate, Roger Montgomery. Roger had been keeping the peace at home at the time of the Conquest, but had been rewarded for his patience with the earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury. He in turn had distributed various manors among his own followers. Stopham was allotted to one Robert, who sub-let it to Ralph.Barttelot of Stopham and Westgate of Berwick, Men of Agincourt – A Quest for the Oldest Families in Sussex
The Stopham estate has ruined much of the ancient landscape of its area by replanting ancient woodland with Sweet Chestnut and vines for their vineyard; and they prevent public access to most of their estate,
One might ask these questions:
is it just for large areas of Sussex to be owned by the aristocracy simply because they have inherited it; especially when that land was originally taken from its previous owners/users 100s of years ago
if you own ancient woodland should you be allowed to destroy it by replanting it for profit
if you own ancient woodland should you deny public access to it
As the South National Park Fittleworth Parish Habitat Survey, 2015, acknowledges, north of Fittleworth is very influenced by the estates which surround it; Barlavington, Stopham and Leconfield in the immediate vicinity, and beyond Cowdray, Goodwood and Arundel.
In the words of Gerard Winstanley (1609 – 1676) leader of the “True Levellers” (later known as Diggers)
the Gentrye are all round; on each side they are found, there wisedomes so profound, to cheat us of or ground
From Lithersgate Common I walked to Brinkwells and explored the land around it. Brinkwells lies to the north of Fittleworth, to the East of Bedham
The above is the route to Brinkwells suggested by Elgar to a violinist friend in a hand-drawn map of 1921. Map reproduced from Fittleworth Miscellanea. Map is in the collection of the Royal College of Music.
Brinkwells: Cottage. C17 or earlier timber-framed, refaced with stone rubble. Hipped thatched roof. Casement windows. Two storeys. … Sir Edward Elgar lived in this house from 1917-1919. He composed his cello concerto while living in the house.Historic England listing: Brinkwells He also composed there the Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 84 in 1919, the same year as he started the cello concerto.
[T]here’s a deeper side to Elgar’s music- a sense of introspection, loneliness, and even melancholy. This is what we hear most strikingly in the Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. It was Elgar’s last significant work, written during the summer of 1919 at “Brinkwells,” his cottage near the village of Fittleworth, Sussex. The summer before, he had been able to hear the sound of distant artillery in the night, rumbling across the English Channel from France. The Listeners Club: Elgar’s Cello Concerto: Elegy for a Vanishing World You can listen to Elgar’s Cello Concerto at: Jacqueline du Pre & Daniel Barenboim – Elgar Cello Concerto If you know Elgar’s cello concerto, does that colour your perception of the landscape around Brinkwells?
Just to the north of Brinkwells, the replanting of the ancient woodland with Sweet Chestnut was inhibited by an area of undulating land, produced by a series of streams emanating from natural springs, making replanting difficult, so veteran beeches and oaks are the dominant trees. Spring Farm just to the north of the springs takes its name from them but none of the land around the springs is farmed.
The landscape of this area of springs
Elgar’s wife Alice suggested in her diary that the Quintet was inspired by a local legend about impious Spanish monks who, having engaged in blasphemous rites, had been struck by lightning and turned into a grove of withered trees near the cottage. Alice speculated that the Quintet’s “wonderfully weird beginning” represented those sad and sinister trees. Elgar himself described the first movement as “ghostly stuff.” It begins with an eerie introduction: an austere piano motif that is interrupted repeatedly by muttering strings, followed by a sighing motif and a plaintive rising phrase from the cello. Barbara Leish Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 84 (1919): Program NotesSebago-Long Lake Music Festival You can listen to Elgar’s Piano Quintet at: Ives Collective plays Piano Quintet in A minor by Edward Elgar
Human-tree transformations, as a result of human transgressions, are common in ancient mythology, for example in Ancient Greece it was believed that the beautiful nymph Daphne rejects the love of Apollo and is turned into a tree as a punishment. There are no Ancient Greek written sources for this myth, just later Hellenistic ones e.g. Parthenius, a Greek poet who lived during the 1st century BCE and the more well-known Roman poet Ovid’s version in his Metamorphoses first written in 8 CE.
I can find no sources for a folklore tradition around Brinkwells concerning Spanish monks turned into trees. It is possible that Elgar’s wife created the story of impious Spanish Monks, in the context of long standing folklore traditions that trees were more than just biological components of the landscape.
The estensive tree folklore of many cultures makes it is hard to approach a tree in a wooded landscape without the multiple uses of trees in folklore colouring your perception of it. On walks, we can be creative. When I see a particularly interesting tree sometimes I make up a story about it; those stories are always influenced by my knowledge of tree folklore; but you can always add a creative twist of your own, as probably Mrs Elgar and possibly Ovid did. As Sonia Overall, 2016, says: Sites where memory can no longer be directly accessed are such enigmatic places. These stories held in reserve require an interpreter. Someone willing to look at and interrogate place, to unpack and retell the stories.
Geology and landscape types of the weald
The perseverance of the small area of old woodland north of Brinkwells, that may have inspired Mrs Elgar to retell or create a legend, through the non-replanting with Sweet Chestnut there, is a function of the presence of the springs of that area, and their impact of the springs on the area’s geomorphology. Springs result from the particular geology of their location. An understanding of geology is essential to understanding the landforms of the weald.
Unusually diverse rocks and soils … underlie the exceptionally varied Sussex landscape. … Such are the rapid alterations in the geological canvas that even a short journey introduces the traveller to a number of individual scenes each with a different human imprint. These extend even to the finer details of domestic architecture or hedgerow patterns so that the study of the evolving Sussex landscape is like tracing every thread of a complicated tapestry. As S. W. Wooldridge lucidly demonstrated in The Weald, the geological map is “par excellence our guide and key” to the differing historical development of the traditional Sussex landscape. Peter Brandon (1974) The Sussex Landscape p. 19
Springs formed here north of Brinkwells where permeable sandstone (here sandstones of the Hythe Formation) meets impermeable clays (here the Atherfield Clay Formation); and they are common in the low and high weald.
If you want to know what the underling geology of where you are in Sussex, the days of getting out a paper geological map, as I did when I studied geology in 6th form (1978-90, have gone, and have been superseded by online maps that can be accessed from a smart phone anywhere you are: as long has you have reception: British Geological Survey: Geology Viewer
From Springs Farm to Bedham: Walking along a sunken trackway through the Greensand Ridge. in the footsteps, hoofsteps and trottersteps of medieval farmers and their livestock?
This part of a ‘C’ road that links Springs Farm with Bedham is probably a metalled sunken medieval trackway, with coppiced and pollarded beeches along its banks. Its physical depth evoked in me a sense of deep time.
Wealden Greensand landscape … is essentially a medieval landscape with a small scale, intimate and mysterious character which is in striking contrast to the openness of the rolling chalk hills of the neighbouring South Downs. Its varied and complex landscape is comprised of a combination of clays, sand and sandstones which have produced an undulating topography of scarp and dip slopes, well wooded with ancient mixed woodland of oak, ash, hazel, field maple and birch. … Many narrow winding lanes are distinctively deeply sunken lined with trees whose exposed twisting roots grip chunks of sandstone. These lanes evolved before road surfacing and were eroded through the ages by weathering and the passage of foot, hoof and trotter as farmers drove their pigs up to the High Weald’s woodlands to feed them on the abundance of acorns (examples of transhumance and the practice of pannage).THE WEST SUSSEX LANDSCAPE Character Guidelines Local Distinctiveness Wealden Greensand Character Area
The light and dark areas of this geological map show the greensand ridge; which produces the high ground on which Bedham sits
Bedham School: A picturesque and sublime ruin and/or a reminder of rural poverty and depopulation?
Walking along the ancient route from Brinkwells to Bedham Manor Farm, on the summit of the Greensand Ridge, you reach the start of a footpath heading northward through Hammonds Wood. Just a little way down that footpath, on the left is the ruin of Bedham Church
Built in 1880 as a church and school, this Bedham Church was built as a place of worship and education for the remote hamlet of Bedham. At its peak it had 60 pupils and 3 teachers.Derelict Places: Bedham Church
Standing just over two miles to the east of the small town of Petworth, in West Sussex, is an English hamlet on lands that hide a haunting ruin of a building and the story of how it came to be vacant, and almost vanished. The name of this hamlet is Bedham, and on its lands there once stood a farm, a number of houses scattered among the trees, and a school, Victorian by design. … In the midst of this green woodlands, there barely stands a church. Its history began in 1880 with a man named William Townley Mitford. A Victorian Conservative Party politician by vocation, William is tagged as the man behind this Victorian church that is erected in honor of Saint Michael and All Angels. But besides serving as a church, this structure was also used as a school. … During Sundays, the school became a church. All of the school materials were removed, and the chairs were turned so that they faced east. Then came the rector of the small village of Fittleworth to hold the service. He was always accompanied by a lady who played the melodeon. The rest of the weekdays, the building took its regular role of a schoolhouse.
Back in the days, there were around 60 pupils–the younger pupils were children to the local charcoal burners–and no more than three teachers to take care of them. The interesting thing about this school is that it educated both children and adults. A mere curtain separated the groups. …This enchanted forests surround Bedham school and church. But over the years, the need for a school as well as a chapel slowly faded until it was no more. The end, according to some researchers, came around 1925.Brad SmithfieldVintage News: Bedham School and Church: A ghostly shell of Victorian days
The picturesque is related to the concept of the sublime. Edmund Burke locates the sublime purely in terms of fear … “In essence, whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling” (A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful [1759].) … Burke’s insistence on framing and distancing the sublime moment helped shape a Gothic aesthetic in which obscurity, suspense, uncertainty, ambivalence, and play attend presentations of terror. Marquette University: Glossary of the Gothic: Sublime
The idea of the picturesque and the sublime informs the way we see landscape. It is clear from the many internet blogs and articles on visits to Bedham church/school that it is a perceived as a picturesque and sublime landscape:
Reclaimed by nature, the ruins of Bedham Church and School are as beautiful as they are eerie. Experience Sussex
My 15 year old daughter has been studying Photography as a GCSE and expressed an interest in ruins of old structures and the decay as nature starts to take back. 28 Days Later
Seeing a ruined school can be landscape visual pleasure; even if an eerie pleasure. Does this visual and intellectual pleasure of appreciating this ruin through the cultural lenses of the picturesque and sublime obscure the reality of rural poverty? Rural depopulation in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, and rural poverty, was mostly a result of the end of the capital utility of previous country employment. The psychogeography exposed by Sonia Overall in Walking Backwards: psychogeographical approaches to heritage, is based upon the political philosophy of Situationist International. Activities like walking the city aimlessly were reimagined as statements against a society that demanded production, The Art Story: Situationist International. You can frame looking at the ruins of Bedham school/church with the cultural constructions of the picturesque and the sublime, but you also frame the image of the school/church as a symbol of the savagery of the capitalist focus of production in causing poverty. The children left when their parents had no work and had to relocate because their capitalist structure of their society had no need for the production of charcoal
West Sussex was a classic zone on the receiving end of the increasing economic divisions in the national story. Turmoil in rural Sussex had been rife at the turn of the century, marked by harvest failures, disorder and protest about food monopolies and inflated prices. Richards, Eric, ‘West Sussex and the rural south’, The genesis of international mass migration: The British case, 1750-1900 (Manchester, 2018; online edition, Manchester Scholarship Online, 19 Sept. 2019),https://doi.org/10.7228/manchester/9781526131485.003.0004, accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
Hammonds Wood: a cathedral of beech and The Mens
To reach the Mens, as named on the OS map, from Bedham you walk through Hammonds Woods. This wood is mostly tall forest woodland of Beech and some Pedunculate Oak, with an understory of Hawthorn, Field Maple, Yew and a great deal of Holly. Walking through Hammond had a feel of walking along the nave of a Romanesque cathedral.
Hammonds Wood is part of the Natural England The Mens SSSI and is managed as part of the Sussex Wildlife Trust The Mens Nature Reserve. The Mens is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a Special Area of Conservation. An area of 166 hectares (410 acres).
Arriving in the Mens is always a pleasure as there I feel there a deep connection to the medieval past, even though its present is very different from its medieval past. Its name reveals its Saxon origins. The unusual name of this area comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘gemænnes’, meaning common land.Sussex Wildlife Trust The Mens
The Mens was previously wood pasture; probably mostly an area pannage in the medieval period. It was transformed to tall forest woodland from wood pasture when grazing ceased. The Sussex Wildlife Trust has not reintroduced grazing at the Mens. Historically, pannage is the legal right to pasture swine in woodland, a practice which was prevalent in mediaeval England. The right of common of mast, otherwise known as pannage, has been going on for a thousand years [and continues in the New Forest]. Curiously British: Pannage
As you start to wander through the reserve, you will begin to orientate yourself – there are old tracks and banks separating woodland compartments and heavily incised streams full of bryophytes that fracture and divide the site. Whilst there is as much beech, as Hammonds Wood, in the Mens elsewhere Oaks of many different shapes and sizes form a more intimate atmosphere with typical ancient woodland trees such as Wild Service, Midland Hawthorn and Spindle.Sussex Wildlife Trust The Mens
Wild Service Tree in the Mens
Midland Hawthorn in the Mens
Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna has single seed in its fruit (monogyna), while Midland Hawthorn,Crataegus laevigata, has two or more seeds in its fruit
We have always maintained a policy of non-intervention in the main woodlands and continue to monitor changes in tree growth and development, species diversity, succession and the extent of deadwood. Sussex Wildlife Trust The Mens Reserve
This policy of non-intervention in the Mens, means that the Mens now will never be like the Saxon gemænnes; not that that is a problem, as nowhere described as a medieval landscape looks like those landscapes would have done in the early medieval (Saxon) period . Whilst it is still “ancient woodland,” it is nothing like the pasture woodland that it was in medieval times. But glimpses of the past can be seen in the old tracks and banks. It would be very hard. if not impossible, to restore the Mens, or any other Saxon woodland, to its Saxon form, as we live in the now not the past. Most current ancient woodland is little like their past former form; but these woodlands are still important to conserve; with grazing, coppicing and pollarding. Ancient woodlands are not “natural” or “wild” in Sussex, nor are they natural or wild anywhere in England; but they are very beautiful. They were formed by the interaction of geology, native vegetation and how humans have managed them.
The wildwood, as discussed by Rackman (e.g the 1976. Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape), the natural forested landscape that developed across much of Prehistoric Britain after the last ice age, has gone (and probably never covered all of what is now the England as Rackham argued); from the start of the Neolithic period, people began to shape and exploit the land to their advantage. Moreover, there wasn’t a single type of wildwood; there were many forms of wildwood.
Ancient woodland is the product of natural processes and human intervention. If our intention is to make ancient woodland “wildwood” again, what ever that is, we would need to rid the landscape of people; that is a form of eco-fascism. My preference for the conservation of existing ancient woodland, and the creation of future “ancient” woodland, is to manage and thus preserve ancient woodland, and create new woodland, with traditional woodland practices (grazing, coppicing, pollarding). For an interesting conversation on the science and mytha of the the wildwood you could listen to Free Thinking Oliver Rackham and Wildwood Ideas. Whilst ancient woodland is important and needs preserving, looking to the past as a golden age is a mistake; we need to think of the future of woodland and nature and consider how to preserve and create woodland in a landscape that also needs to produce food in a sustainable way; and that is democratic and promotes access to woodland. Our current landscapes of woodland is a landscape of mainly private ownership and limited public access; that is not the “best” landscape.
On the way back to Fittleworth; the sound of a pig
On the way back to Fittleworth from the Mens I walked dowm the lane to the west of the Serpents Trail
I heard a snuffling sound whilst walking down the lane, and looked over a hedge and saw a pig thoroughly enjoying acorns that had fallen from a pedunculate oak in a field. The pig was not in common pasture woodland; it was in a field; it was not a native species, it was probably a Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig; it was not livestock, it was probably a pet; but the sight and sound of a pig enjoying acorns from an Oak in the countryside paradoxically strangely drew me more toward the medieval past than any other experience of the day.
Sim's Nature Notes 