{"id":4369,"date":"2019-05-26T12:25:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T11:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4369"},"modified":"2019-05-26T12:25:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T11:25:36","slug":"rotherfield-greys-15-may-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/rotherfield-greys-15-may-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotherfield Greys – 15 May 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sally Rankin organised a walk on\nthe hot and sunny morning of Wednesday 15 May, starting from the Maltsters Arms\nat Rotherfield Greys. Also joining the group were Andrew and Wendy Hawkins, who\nown Flowercroft Wood, the destination for the walk. Andrew kindly gave a\nfascinating commentary on the history, geology and management of the wood, and\npointed out some of the special plants and trees.  The walk started out along the footpath which\nleads past the church. Whitethroat and Yellowhammer were singing from the young\ntrees planted next to the first field and a Small Heath butterfly was seen\namongst the Dandelions in the second grassy field. The route followed the\nChiltern Way briefly, before turning down Dog Lane. A large Red-tailed\nBumblebee queen was seen investigating a hole in the bank beside the track and\nSouthern Wood-rush and a large clump of Goldilocks Buttercup were noted. The\nnext path ran along the bottom of the wood called The Paddock. Andrew commented\nthat old maps show the wood as open farmland, and this was reinforced by the\nrelatively impoverished flora, compared with the rich assemblage of flowers in\nthe ancient woodland stretches. A bank marked the parish boundary and also the\nedge of Flowercroft Wood. Flowers here included Bluebells, Yellow Archangel,\nGreater Stitchwort, Bugle, Ground-ivy, Woodruff and Wood Anemone. A Nuthatch\nand a Great Spotted Woodpecker were seen. Andrew explained that the top of the\nwood was on gravel, the slopes were on chalk, and the bottom was on glacial till.\nThe lowest section of the wood is called Bottom Wood, and this part had the\nbest display of Bluebells. Butterflies seen here included Brimstone, Orange-tip\nand Speckled Wood. A Wych Elm had dropped its round, flat green seeds on the\npath. The next section of the walk was a wander across Kent\u2019s Hill, a sheltered\ngrassy meadow on the steep chalk slope, with a rich chalk flora and lots of\nbutterflies. The latter included good numbers of Dingy Skipper, a few Grizzled\nSkippers, a Green Hairstreak, plus Common Blue, Holly Blue and Small Heath. Common\nTwayblades were found in the corner of the field where the Green Gym had\nrecently done some scrub clearing and there was Wood Spurge there too. Salad\nBurnet was in flower and Carline Thistle was seen. A Red-tailed Mason Bee Osmia bicolor<\/em> was spotted, carrying a\nlong piece of grass transversely, which it uses to build its nest in an empty\nsnail shell. The route back led past first a big clump of Green Hellebore, then\na cluster of Wild Service-trees with the flowers just coming out, and finally a\ngroup of 3 White Helleborines which were protected from browsing deer with\nmetal mesh cylinders. The walk was followed by lunch at the Maltsters Arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n