Spike & Tamara's Wood
Kingston, Kent
TR197514
Page introduced 1 August 1998
Last update: 4 September 2020
Spike &
Tamara's Wood is the field in which our two horses, Spike and Tamara, lived and
grazed for most of the nineteen years we had them.
The decision
to turn it into a nature reserve was made following Tamara's death and was
planted up with nearly a thousand trees. These include 20 donated by the
Kent Stour Countryside Project. All the trees are native English species,
predominately oaks, and include ash, beech, birch, horse chestnut, sweet
chestnut, holm oak, walnut, holly, hornbeam, whitebeam, crab apple, pear and
wild cherry.
The wooded
area covers just over three-quarters of the five-acre site. The rest has
been retained partly as grassland with a sprinkling of more exotic trees,
including a cedar of Lebanon..
Wildlife Returns
Leaving most
of the field semi-wild for over 20 years has had its effect. There have
been at least two badger colonies on the western edge as well as foxes. Although
there were no rabbits they finally manged to fund the field and as a
consequence some of the trees have been
badly damaged by having the bark nibbled off., but, as yet, no rabbits
|
The greatest difference has been in the butterfly population. Originally the field only supported a few species and not in any great numbers but this changed dramatically and by the summer of 2000 it was teeming with Small Skippers, and at least three other species. In 1998 the first Marbled White butterflies were seen, just three but a welcome sight. Although their appearance is part of a general penetration by this species inland from the coast, which has been a feature of the last decade, it was still a surprise that they had taken up residence so quickly. The numbers have since declined from a high of 63 in 2003 |
|
Butterfly species seen to
date:
|
Hesperidae: |
Large
Skipper |
|
Pieridae: |
Brimstone |
|
Lycaenidae: |
Common
Blue |
|
Nymphalidae: |
Small
Tortoiseshell |
|
Pieridae |
Clouded
Yellow |
|
Satyridae: |
Speckled
Wood |
Bird life is less easy to quantify. A Sparrowhawk regularly patrols the field,
Green Woodpeckers visit in search of food and there are such threatened species
such as Skylarks, which seem to be nesting. Mostly they are familiar garden
species.
DIARY
1997
In the first
year only 40 trees were planted, mostly about five - six feet tall. These
were set out in three major groves, one of silver birch, one with a mixture of
birch and alder, and the rest, which included the oaks, beech and sweet
chestnut, in a much looser formation. A few other trees, horse chestnut, ash
and a solitary whitebeam were spread over the rest of the field. The weather
was particularly fortunate, warm and wet throughout the summer, which meant
that all but one tree survived its transplanting and nearly all put on a
spectacular amount of growth, some eighteen inches or more. By 2005 these trees
were well over head height, mostly between eight and ten feet tall.
1998
In the late
summer, we held the first of barbecue for all the family who are participating
in the project. Four generations were present, plus other friends who assisted
in the planting.
During the
autumn over 400 trees were planted, thanks to a grant from the Forestry
Commission. Most of these trees were fairly small, around 2 feet tall,
and, consequently, it will be several years before they reach any height.
Because of this, and so that the woodland effect is achieved earlier, a
sprinkling of slightly larger trees were included, mostly planted in a clump at
the southern edge. Unfortunately, of the three casualties that winter, two were
large oaks among this group. Planting took place, appropriately, in
National Tree Planting Week.
In order to
develop the field area as a wild-flower meadow it needs to be either grazed or
cut every spring and autumn. To this end a small tractor mower was purchased
and used to cut a series of paths through the long grass in the woodland area
as well as mowing the meadow area.
1999
A series of
sharp frosts in mid April badly affected the sweet chestnuts, practically all
the ash trees and the two walnut trees, but they recovered well and put on lots
of new growth. In the summer several of the newly planted trees started to show
signs of distress when there was a prolonged dry spell and an emergency watering
system had to be introduced which lasted over three weeks. Luckily not a tree
was lost as a result.
The second
celebratory barbecue was held earlier in the year, just after the trees emerged
into leaf. It was a hot, peaceful day which everyone enjoyed, the more so
because the following day it poured with rain almost non-stop.
The autumn
work was devoted to planting a mixed hedge along the western edge next to the
bridle path and on the north side. Another 80 trees, including a dozen copper
beech were added, less than intended as we were let down at the last minute in
the delivery of a further 60 oak trees.
2000
When it was
time to give the field its spring cut the mower refused to start. By the time
it had been repaired, the weather had turned and throughout April there was
heavy rain, in fact it was the wettest April since records began in 1766. May,
too, had 50% more rain than normal and as a consequence it was only possible to
mow a small area of the field. Since then only the paths and glades have been kept
clear.
Tree losses
over the winter were slightly higher than previous years, about half a dozen of
the new plantings failing to make it. Although higher than we might wish, this
has to be set against the 10% or more losses in the first year that we were
warned to expect.
The third
barbecue, later than last year because of the intervention of a family wedding,
took place the first weekend in July. Although it was a last minute arrangement
we were again particularly favoured by the weather, despite the rain in the
morning that cleared just at the point when we were going to cancel.
The
intention in the autumn was to plant more oak trees, which should have been
done the previous year, thereby completing the first phase, but the incessant
rain necessitated a change of plan and only a small number of fruit and cob nut
trees were added.
2001
Due to the
heavy rainfall throughout the autumn and winter, the Nailbourne started to flow
for the first time in several years and there was severe flooding throughout the
Elham Valley from Barham, through Kingston and beyond, to Bishopsbourne,
Bridge, Patrixbourne and Littlebourne. The bridle path alongside the field was
cut by a wide lake which developed and became a home to large numbers of
optimistic ducks and moorhens. To add to the wildlife miscellany, a white stork
took up residence in the area, almost certainly an escapee from a zoo. These
are natives of North Africa and Asia Minor that migrate into eastern Europe,
northern Germany and Holland during the summer.
At the time
of writing this diary entry the floods had only slightly abated and the
Nailbourne looked set to flow for a couple of months at least. Meanwhile, the
trees started to bud and there did not seem to have been any losses, though at
one time we feared for some of the birches which began to heel over in the
waterlogged ground and had to be staked.
2002
In spring we
noticed the damage done to the trees during the floods the previous year, with the
highest mortality rate yet among the trees that had been planted, with around
80 lost altogether, ten times that of any previous year. The family barbecue in
June went ahead as scheduled and it was a great success, with really good
weather.
In the autumn
we managed to add two dozen oak trees and a few copper beeches, including one
donated by our next door neighbour, Rita Curtis, in memory of her husband who
died in November 2001. The father of a family friend donated a small number of
trees that were used to infill where there were odd spaces, mostly the result
of trees that had died.
2003
After much
discussion a decision was made to plant a variety of fruit trees in the
remaining part of the field. This was done in the early spring, concentrating
in the main on Kent varieties of apples, pears, plums and cherries. A small
selection of Kent cobnuts were added in the bottom corner.
The field
was opened to the public for the first time when we took part in the Kingston
Open garden event in June. Over 150 visitors looked round and most seemed
impressed by what they saw and supported the aims of the project. The family
barbecue was graced this year by visiting relatives from Australia who came
over in the summer, culminating in an exciting game of rounders on the village
playing field. In the long hot summer it was necessary to water a large number
of the newer trees that were ailing badly. Despite appearances at the time,
none were actually lost, in fact the only casualty all winter was one of the
two yew trees in the field, and that was one that had never taken successfully
from the start.
2004
The orchard
area was mowed and the intention is that in future this grass will be kept
short. A couple of the trees were lost but nothing too serious and most seem to
be thriving.
Just for
fun, a tree circle has been planted, with an avenue leading into it lined with
hawthorns orientated along a north/south axis. Trees round the circumference of
the circle include pairs planted slightly closer together which denote the sunrise
and sunset on 21st June and 21st December as well as the cardinal points of the
compass.
2005
For the
first time other family friends joined the annual barbecue, camping out in the
field overnight. Less welcome was the damage done to the trees and shrubs along
the bottom edge of the field by a party of Kent County Council workers clearing
the bridle path alongside. Although they trespassed by reaching over the fence
and cut branches off in quite an arbitrary way (including the tops), the KCC
has refused to pay compensation, stating that they did it "as a goodwill
gesture". Subsequently, two of the trees, which had reached a height of 12
feet, died back completely, though most of the damage simply affected the
appearance. Such is the power of Local Government that they can do this kind of
thing and get away with it.
2006
Success at
last in our attempts to plant an aea of the field with wildflowers. During the
winter the area inside the tree circle was cleared from as many weeds as
possible and in March was dug over and sown with a wildflower seed mixture. It
worked and in the summer was a riot of colour, much admired by visitors during
the Open Garden weekend.
The bushes
in the field this autumn were for the first time laden down with berries,
possibly the outcome of the exceptionally hot weather in June and July.
Another
feature, especially at this time of year, is the many large spiders that build
their webs among the trees. Some of these are quite spectacular, though I do
not expect arachnophobes to share my delight in seeing them.
2020 update
The
intervening years since this was last updated have seen many changes in the
field, some good, some very bad. One
pleasing outcome was when the electricity people wanted to clear a path next to
their power line that ran diagonally through the field, which would have mean
cutting down many of the trees. To my
delight they agreed instead to put the line underground. This work was carried out fairly promptly and
while the trench was being dug a number of Roman pottery sherds were found,
although there were no sign of any building or other artefacts.
The
copse of trees are now quite tall but quite a few have been lost during the
past decade due to storm damage and, sadly, ash die-back. Not every ash tree has been affected, which
leaves some room for hope but we have had to face up to the possibility that we
might lose all of them eventually. The
other downside is that there has been an invasion of brambles, particularly
around the apple trees, annoyingly and all large areas of nettles. Currently we have taken steps to have these
cleared.
Meanwhile
the tractor mower gave up working some years ago and had to be scrapped. This means that we are no longer able to mow the
grassy areas and also some of the less-used footpaths are now grown over. However, the canopy is such that it is now
possible to walk freely in most of the tree area except where the nettles grow.
Page introduced 1 August 1998
Updated annually to 2006
Updated 4 September
2020