Church Wood, Blean RSPB Reserve

INTRODUCTION

Church Wood is part of the 7,000 acre complex known as Blean Woods lying to the north and west of Canterbury. All the more fertile land was cleared long ago for agriculture. Over the last 150 years piecemeal felling has broken up a broad expanse of forest into the present cluster of woods on the poorest soils. Changes in woodland management have been equally devastating to wildlife. For thousands of years the native trees were exploited as a source of timber, fencing materials and fuel. But the rise of the Kentish hop industry in the 17th century led to a huge demand for long poles to support the climbing plants. The oak and birch woods were cleared away and replaced with plantations of sweet chestnut, a native of the Mediterranean. Woodmen felled the stems when they were still young, causing fresh shoots to spring from the stumps. Therefore a harvest of straight, rot-resistant poles could be cut (coppiced) every 15 years or so.

During this century the demand for chestnut poles has fallen with the decline of the hop market. Since the 1950s extensive areas of poorer quality coppice have been replaced by conifer plantations which supply the paper and constructions industries. Today only about a third of Blean Woods retains a cover of native oak, birch, beech and hornbeam and it is this semi-natural woodland that contains the greatest wildlife interest. The RSPB's nature reserve has safeguarded some of the finest areas of oak wood.  

There is an extensive network of paths often in use by walkers and joggers. All three native woodpeckers are to be found in the wood, together with nuthatch, treecreeper and summer visitors like nightingale.

THE RESERVE

With the purchase of 360 acres of Church Wood in 1981 - 80 acres of the adjacent Bossenden Wood were added in the following year - the RSPB has created one of the largest deciduous woodland reserves in southern England. Much of it is officially designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Most of the reserve lies on acidic, infertile London clay which is clothed in oak wood. The pedunculate oak (with short leaf stalks) is normally the common oak in southern England but at Blean it is replaced largely by the other native species, sessile oak (with long leaf stalks), which is more characteristic of the uplands of north and west Britain. The trees are mostly 100-150 years old, with an understorey of sweet chestnut, hazel, birch or hornbeam and a field layer dominated by bramble and bracken. Less common trees include willow, alder and ash along the stream, wild cherry at the woodland edge and some scattered beech, whitebeam and wild service - this last species being confined to ancient woodland. A few pockets of horn­beam coppice occur on the clay, but where the heavy soil is overlain by gravel deposits there is a 90 acre block of sweet chestnut and birch coppice.

THE HABITATS AND THEIR WILDLIFE

It is planned to maintain or create the following seven habitats by appropriate management, thus ensuring a high diversity of animals and plants.

Oak wood

This habitat supports a richer variety of wildlife than any other type of woodland. Because the trees in Church Wood are all of about the same age some will be felled to allow saplings to develop. Most will be left to mature, cast their limbs and slowly die of old age. These decaying giants will provide sites for hole­nesting birds as well as an important food source for green,‑ great spotted and lesser spotted woodpeckers, nuthatch, treecreeper and six species of tits ‑ great, blue, coal, long‑tailed, marsh and willow. Both redstart and wood warbler are scarce breeding species in Kent, but a few pairs of redstarts nest regularly on the reserve and a pair of wood warblers do so occasionally. A few hawfinches breed where hornbeam or beech grows among the oak.

Spring flowers, such as bluebell, wood anemone and primrose, are generally scarce, but there are extensive patches of lesser periwinkle, lily-of-the-valley and cow-wheat.

Coppice

Few species of insects feed on sweet chestnut leaves so insectivorous birds are scarce. But after a hot summer the older coppice may yield a heavy crop of nuts on which jays, great tits, nuthatches, grey squirrels and wood mice feed. Willow warblers can be quite common for a few years after coppicing, but only where there is a high proportion of birch mixed in with the chestnut. As the canopy closes in their place may be taken by turtle doves. The dense shade of the coppice suppresses most of the shrubby undergrowth in which other species like to feed and nest. Consequently much of this unfavourable habitat is being improved by felling the chestnut, thinning the remaining birches and plant­ing oaks. The young, open woodland is favoured by willow warblers, wrens and dunnocks, and flocks of redpolls in winter.

Some of the chestnut coppice will be retained, espe­cially beside the oak wood where cow‑wheat grows. This yellow‑flowered annual is the food plant of the caterpillars of the heath fritillary, one of Britain's rarest butterflies. Regular coppicing ensures that there are plenty of sunny clearings for the adults to fly in, and the influx of light for the first three years after cutting promotes the growth of cow-wheat. This practice has raised the heath fritillary's population from 200, concentrated in one locality, to some 1,500 spread over five sites in 1986. Wood ants are particularly common here.

Heathland

This is an extremely scarce habitat in Kent, but a little heather struggles for survival beneath the chestnut and one area of coppice is slowly being converted to heathland. Two or three pairs of redstarts nest at the edge of the heath which has already been colonised by tree pipits. Hopefully nightjars will breed here one day.

Conifers

Both crossbills and long‑-eared owls have nested in Church Wood so three small stands of Scots pines are being kept for them. For a brief period in spring seeds ripening in the pine cones are food for greenfinches, siskins, chaffinches and yellowhammers.

Rides

The established network of wide tracks, or rides, was created for timber extraction but now, with manage­ment, they support a wide variety of wildlife within a limited area. The mown grass path in the middle of the ride is a feeding ground for blackbirds and starlings. The rank grass on either side is cut every second or third year to provide the right breeding conditions for butterflies, such as hedge brown, meadow brown, small skipper, Essex skipper and ringlet, whose caterpillars feed on the grasses. Early in the year primroses and common dog violet flower in the damp ditches. The common dog violet is the food plant of the caterpillars of the pearl-bordered fritillary, a butterfly which flies along the rides in May and June.

On warm, summer days several dragonfly species patrol the rides. The scarce aeshna and common sympetrum are the most common. Lizards can be seen scurrying for cover and the quiet visitor may be lucky enough to see a fox hunting the ride edges. Badgers sometimes visit the wood but there are no deer.

The rides' scrubby margins are cut on a rotation of approximately ten years to provide the dense cover required by nightingales. 15-20 pairs nest here with willow warblers, blackcaps and garden warblers.

Glades

The creation of permanent glades breaks up an other­wise uniform habitat. Tree pipits and yellowhammers feed in the coppice clearings while nightingales often nest at their edges. The oak wood glades are favoured by spotted flycatchers, willow warblers and blackcaps. A sparrowhawk - which is still a rare species in Kent - may dash across a glade in pursuit of small birds.

Ponds

Two large ponds were excavated in 1985 and within a year had attracted mallard, teal, heron, kingfisher, grey wagtail, common sandpiper and green sandpiper. A wide range of aquatic plants, such as sedges, rushes, water plantain, pondweed and reedmace, have all colonised naturally and when fully established will provide nesting cover for moorhen and mallard. Several species

of dragonflies hunt over the water, especially southern aeshna, emperor, broad‑bodied chaser and common coenagrion. Their immature (nymphal) stage is passed underwater in the company of great diving beetles and water boatmen, while the surface film is the haunt of pond-skaters and whirligig beetles. Smooth and palmate newts breed here and hopefully will be joined by frogs and toads.

VISITING

Map reference TR126593

Visitors are welcome to the reserve at all times, free of charge, provided they keep to the paths. There are three waymarked trails of 1, 1¾ and 2¾ miles in length as well as a number of other paths, including a 7 mile trail that goes through the area managed by the Woodland Trust. Dogs must be kept on the paths and under control to avoid disturbance to wildlife and other visitors.

April to July is the most favourable period for enjoying Church Wood's wildlife. May is best for bird song, especially that of the nightingales. Heath fritillaries are on the wing from mid-June to the end of July, but are usually most abundant in early July. Butterflies and dragonflies are flying in August and in autumn there may be a good show of fungi. Large flocks of redpolls are often among the winter visitors.