I have been looking forward to taking you with me as we tour one of my favourite local ancient woodlands. It has an unusual name – The Mens Nature Reserve. The name originates from long ago, it is Anglo-Saxon and I am told that the original name of ‘ge-maennes’ actually means ‘common land’.
During Anglo-Saxon times, the land was divided up into manorial estates and large areas became cultivated, however, those areas of poor-quality soil were left uncultivated and local inhabitants retained the right to use this wasteland for certain purposes ‘IN COMMON’ with the owner.
These originally concentrated upon some or all of the following rights:
Grazing – to graze cattle, horses, sheep and goats – with limited numbers to each commoner and a penalty for exceeding that limit
Pannage – to allow pigs to forage for nuts and other food
Piscary – to take fish
Turbary – to collect peat for fuel
Estovers – to collect wood for fuelling and fencing, and bracken for animal bedding and also to take stone, sand or gravel.
The name of the county, of Sussex comes from Old English Suð Seaxe, meaning South Saxons. So, there is a lot of history in this area and this woodland has been continually wooded since Anglo-Saxon times, that’s pre-1066 and way before the accepted classification of 1600 for Ancient woodland.
With the history chat over, for now, let’s start exploring this woodland. One of the many reasons I enjoy this woodland is that it feels wild. It has some ancient tracks but often they are overgrown and it is as close to being really wild as you will find in the South of England in modern times.
We are going to follow one of the ancient tracks that will allow us to experience most of the amazing natural and man-made features that have shaped the history of this ancient woodland.
As we leave the small and uneven car park and head up towards the start of our walk, the tree canopy is already shading the path and the temperature is three or four degrees cooler.
The first point of note on our walk is an old saw pit. These were typically at the woodyard and not within the woodland but here we have the signs of a former working saw pit.
A sawpit was a hole dug in the ground, probably about 6 feet deep and between 12 and 15 feet long and about 4 feet wide.
Two men were needed to cut a tree into planks, this was known as rip sawn, using large two-handled saws with enormous teeth that you can sometimes see hanging on the walls of museums and even pubs.
The saw pit was deep enough for a man to stand and pull one end of the saw down, while the other sawman stood on top of the log pulling the saw up and keeping a straight line.
Today we only see a sawpit as a slight depression in the ground with a bank on one side. The sawpit will have been aligned so that the long side was at right angles to the direction of the slope. The soil they removed was used to make a bank on the downhill side that held the log in place.
This sawpit is at the base of a hill, with the forest stream running just to our left. This would have helped the woodsmen to get the felled tree to the pit for sawing. It is also on the main trackway into the woodland so that the finished sawn log could be transported on a horse-drawn cart.
Now we begin our walk down the steep bank and cross the stream on the tree that has fallen across the stream. There is no bridge, although today, in early summer the stream is low and can be crossed easily.
As we climb the steep bank we find an old trackway that runs along the top of the stream bank. The drop of nearly ten metres clearly shows how this stream can swell in the wetter months.
I’m in search of something special that I’ve only found once before in another ancient woodland in Sussex. Within a few minutes, it comes into view. It’s a wild service tree, and it’s a big one as well.
I cannot accurately date the tree, but she is a grand old lady, probably two to three hundred years old. The bark is distinctive and magnificent. I enjoy spending a few minutes just taking in the beauty of this rare and beautiful tree.
There are several ancient woodland indicator species along the trackway, such as yellow archangel and violet hellebore, in addition to the majestic oaks and ancient beech trees. Holly is dominating the lower story of the canopy but I doubt it would have been so prevalent in the past.
As I walk along, I am tuned in to the birdsong, clearly identifying a Song Thrush, Wood warbler and chiffchaff.
This woodland has an amazing collection of fungi, I believe over 600 species have been found here so far, in addition to twelve species of British bats, including the Barbastelle, Bechstiens, Brandts, Brown long-eared, Common and Soprano pipistrelle, Daubentons, Leislers, Lesser Horseshoe, Natterers, Noctule and Serotine. We will come back in the autumn evenings and see how many we can find.
The woodland track undulates and I’m almost continually walking down and then back up the slope to the stream below. Finally, it levels out and I am back on the trackway but stepping over numerous fallen trees, many fell in the great storm of 1987 and are now a magnificent habitat for moths, bugs, thrips, bees, wasps and ants and non-insects such as spiders, mites, pseudoscorpions and nematodes that all can be found inhabiting dead and decaying wood. There are also a large number of invertebrates and vertebrates that live in dead and decaying trees but do not use them for their nourishment, probably the Stag beetle being the best known of them.
The trackway disappears again as the holly thickens. I move down the bank and carry on. I come upon a clearing and can see the next landmark on the opposite side of the stream. I make my way down the steep embankment and cross the stream on a pair of small-diameter birch trees that I’m sure have been placed but It’s still pretty scary with the stream two to three metres below me.
The irony of this is what I have found is a partly constructed bridge with a brick base and concrete top section. The bridge is believed to have been built by Canadian troops during WW2 but it was never finished and no one knows why. The Canadian army was in the woodland during the war and had an HQ building not far from the bridge.
I continue along the trackway, regularly walking through the holly bushes that are engulfing the whole area. A short way along the trackway a wonderful site comes into view- a carpet of yellow covers both sides of the bank. It is another ancient woodland key indicator species the opposite leaved Golden saxifrage and it’s spectacular in the June sunlight.
This wet woodland plant loves to grow alongside streams and this creeping plant has spread for 20 metres or more along both sides of this slightly raised bank by the stream. It is not a rare plant but that said I rarely find it in the wild.
As I continue along the trackway I come to a large mound, it almost looks like a small hill but the stream, that I have been following stops at the mound. It is a soil damn as it is too neat to have been an earth slide.
Dams are used to control water and this one has created a mosaic of small pools and ponds. This is very similar to what beavers will naturally do and they create very similar environments. These pools are ideal for a range of amphibians, including frogs, toads and newts. I was fortunate to spot a grass snake swimming in the pool close to me and that is a sure sign that the amphibians are here.
The dam is situated near the boundary of the woodland, so it was probably built by the woodman wanting to retain the water in pools for easier collection, maybe for the charcoal pits or possibly for washing the wheels on their carts as the soil is a clay-based and a deep, rich dark colour that has that amazingly sweet smell of woodland soils.
The track takes you out of the woodland and into a meadow. My eyes squint as I try to focus having emerged from the dapple woodland into the bright sunlight. When my eyes focus again they are greeted with the magnificent site of s large summer meadow and it is buzzing with life.
I walk into the meadow and step away from the cut path. The grasses and vetches are waist-deep and the sound of insect wings and grasshoppers is a constant low-pitched hum. This is Badlands Meadow.
The meadow is several hectares, edged by the ancient woodland to the north, and a road to the south and east. I follow the path in a westerly direction and immediately spot the zig-zag clover, which looks similar to the more common red lover but the flowers are more of a purple colour, whilst the leaves are slimmer and less hairy.
Just in front of me in the long meadow grasses a spot a small patch of Common Spotted Orchids, maybe 15-20 in total. The ‘Common’ name is a bit misleading as, whilst not rare, they are certainly not an everyday find, so I am really happy to see them in good numbers here.
Making my through the meadow I spot two more plants that we featured recently in our summer wildflower walk (link here, so whilst I am noting them, I won’t go into any detail today on the wonderful Devils bit scabious, and the very beautiful Yellow Rattle.
Just over to my left, there is a patch of a small flower with a lot of names and traditional uses. Known as Lady’s Smock, this delicate pale-coloured flower is part of the Cardamin family. The leaves taste like wasabi or spicy hot mustard, a real treat for the tastebuds, if a bit painful to gather as the leaves are quite small. Also known as the Cuckoo flower as it blooms around the time the male cuckoos begin to sing each year.
It is said to ease menstrual pains, particularly heavy period pains and was used as a general tonic by both men and women.
Our meadow plant fest continues with Dyers Greenweed. This shrubby perennial is a good indicator of unimproved hay meadow and is often found on meadows that are adjoined by woodland, just as we are here. It’s a member of the pea family and its yellow flowers appear around June. It has a similar look to Common Broom and is a good nectar source for moths and butterflies.
Another tall yellow plant is just over to our right, it’s Common Agrimony. This plant is a member of the Rose family. Agrimony in old English meant ‘thankfulness’, believed to from the relief of those suffering from urinary or respiratory infections that it was used to help. If you see Common Agrimony, smell the flowers as the scent, although faint, smells of apricot.
As the meadow begins to narrow and the path gently bends back towards the woodland, the hedgerow begins to get taller and dense again and running along the border between the hedge and the path is one of the most under-rated wild plants, the nettle.
This one is Betony and it’s prolific along this hedgerow. Like a lot of wildflowers, Betony has a lot of local names such as Hedge nettle, Purple or wood betony, and Bishops Wort.
Like all nettles, it has square stems and lipped flowers that are a magnet for bees, particularly, the wool carder bee as well as other pollinators.
Apart from its wildlife benefits, Betony is considered a great go-to herb for people as well. All parts of the plant are edible and as the old saying goes a cup of betony tea will make you feel better.
It has a slightly spicy, peppery taste and a rich aroma. Betony was said to aid concentration, and working on your central nervous system can help relieve depression and anxiety. It was also often planted around churches and in graveyards as it was said to ward off ghosts.
I hope you are enjoying our meander around this stunning Ancient site. We are now about halfway through our walk and I feel this would be a good place to pause and return for part two on the next Wildlife Matters podcast.
I look forward to you joining me again for part two where we will explore the magnificent trees that were used to build Britain’s armada of ships, discover some of the 600-plus species of fungi on the site and even find an abandoned Church – Make sure you subscribe and follow so you never miss an episode but for now remember – keep it wild Peace and Plants x
Ancient Woodland Woodland Trust
Ancient Woodland Forest Research
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