Hidden Gems to Discover on Your High Weald Woodland Walks
Our beautiful High Weald countryside has so much to offer all year round.
Here are some of our favourite things to look out for this autumn and winter.
Listen out for…
‘Belching’ – the sounds of fallow deer. October and November is the is the ‘rut’, or mating season, when male deer compete for a doe (a deer, a female deer!) and display behaviors to attract them.
The large ‘Master’ bucks will be marking their territories trying to attract the does to their rutting stands.
This is also the worst time of year for deer-related Road Traffic Accidents, so it’s important to be ‘deer aware’ when driving in the High Weald, especially at night. Check out this guidance on avoiding Deer Vehicle Collisions from The Deer Society >>
Watch out for…
Weird fungi in short grassland! They have crazy names like ‘dead man’s fingers’, and are a great sign of the High Weald’s undisturbed, biodiverse grasslands.
Waxcaps are a particular of group of fungi to look out for; they are excellent indicators of species-rich grassland with good soil health. These slimy fungi love nutrient poor, unfertilised soils which are the same conditions needed for our beautiful High Weald wildflower meadows, which is why waxcaps are often found on the same sites in the Autumn.
Whilst we have the beautiful display of wildflowers in the summer, these fungi show how important meadows are ecologically all year round.
Look out for…..
Veteran oak trees – the titans of the High Weald’s woodlands and parks.
Veteran and ancient trees are those which surpass a certain age. Oak trees are classed as ancient when they reach 400 years, but in some incredible cases oaks can reach up to 1000 years!
The term ‘veteran’ does not necessarily relate to age (although they are usually 150 – 300 years) but applies to those showing characteristics of ancient trees such as a wide trunk and looking generally a bit gnarly based on their surrounding conditions.
Oak trees have been a key part of High Weald history and helped shaped the way the landscape was used. Up until the 16th century the High Weald was a busy hub of iron production, where the charcoal from oak trees fuelled fires to smelt the iron ore.
The High Weald is the ‘lungs of the South East’. It is the most wooded part of England with almost 28% woodland cover; three times the national average. A high proportion of this is ancient woodland, which has existed since at least the 1600s and is defined by Natural England as ‘irreplaceable habitat’.
So next time you find yourself in High Weald woodlands, keep an eye out for any particularly wizened-looking oak trees, and think about how much history they have witnessed!
Look to the skies…..
Look out for Orion the Hunter in the night sky, and wonder at the stars.
The easiest way to find Orion is to go outside on a clear night and look for three bright stars close together in an almost-straight line. These three stars represent Orion’s belt. The four stars—Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, and Saiph—form a large roughly rectangular shape around Orion’s belt.
The High Weald is home to some of the darkest skies in the South East. It is an intrinsically dark landscape largely free of interference from artificial light, with breath-taking views of the stars.
This gives the area a sense of remoteness and peacefulness and connects the natural environment to the cultural and historic landscape. Learn more about our work to conserve the area’s dark skies >>
Photo by Anders Drange on Unsplash.
Art under your feet….
We all love walking through the crisp and crunchy autumn leaves in their splendid colours at this time of year.
If the mood takes you, why not create some Ephemeral art? You can use different coloured leaves and twigs to leave a temporary, natural artwork beside a footpath, in the park or your front lawn for passers-by to enjoy. It’s only temporary – eventually the wind, worms and wildlife will return it to nature.
