The RSPB, Kent Wildlife Trust and Canterbury City Council have just announced the creation of a £1.9 million project, funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, to enable major habitat improvement work to be carried out at Blean Woods and Seasalter Levels (RSPB), West, East and South Blean and Thornden Woods (KWT) and Wraik Hill (CCC). A project manager and three other staff will shortly be appointed to oversee this project, which starts in March and runs for a year. There is increasing concern that climate change is causing UK woodlands to dry out, leading to a reduction in numbers and diversity of wildlife, and the funding at all the woodland sites will therefore be spent on hydrological work aimed at making the woods damper. Just as an example, willow tits, which favour wet woods with lots of rotting trees, have already become extinct in Kent and the marsh tit, whose requirements are for damp, but not waterlogged land, are fast disappearing from Blean Woods. Work to be carried out over the next twelve months will therefore concentrate on slowing down the drainage of water out of the wood, by building earth and faggot dams to block ditches and streams, and digging out ditches to channel water into areas where it can have most effect. During last summer’s severe drought much of the vegetation was extremely stressed, with many plants shrivelling up, which must then have knock-on effects for all the insects that feed on them. Our much-loved Kentish nightingales have already retreated from the North Downs as the ground dried out, and may now be at risk of disappearing from our lowland woods as well. So, the hope is that this project will result in long-term increases in the dampness of the soil, which will in turn benefit many species of insects, plants and birds.
In view of this exciting and imminent rewetting project, it is somewhat ironic that the wood has endured two major flooding episodes in the past three weeks! The first, in the early hours of 27th December, dumped 33mm of rain on the wood, while the second, on 14th January, piled a further 26mm onto the sodden ground, leaving the reserve wetter than I had ever seen it. On both occasions paths became impassable without wellies, and water actually flowed over the top of the little wooden footbridges. Most impressive of all was the formation of a 20yd-wide river where the main visitor trail crosses the Sarre Penn, the principle stream through the centre of the wood; here two large culvert pipes proved woefully inadequate, with the result that the stream simply flooded across the path. At this point even wellies admitted defeat, and the few visitors venturing out had to retrace their steps or dare to cross on the slippery trunk of a nearby tree that had conveniently fallen across the stream.
The day before the latest deluge it had rained softly all morning and on into the afternoon, but I had to go out for some fresh air and my permitted exercise. The landscape was moodily washed in grey, every tree and bush dripping, and then about fifty fieldfares lifted off from the heath to perch in nearby oaks, eventually flying off north east. As I mentioned in a recent article, it is unusual for fieldfares to actually feed in the wood, as opposed to flying over, so I was really pleased to see such good numbers. Apparently Sam, the warden, had seen them there the two previous days as well, so they were evidently finding worthwhile feeding opportunities, though the acidic, infertile soil of the heath area didn’t seem a promising substrate for an abundance of anything edible. Half an hour later a flock of fifty fieldfares did fly straight over; presumably a different group, as they, too, were going in a north-easterly direction.
Michael Walter
michaelwalter434@gmail.com
01227 462491
27th December: the stream is flowing from left to right and the main visitor trail goes vertically down the centre of the photo.
14th January: Part of the red trail, running from bottom right to top left of the photo.
14th January: the red trail comes from the top of the picture (totally under water), over the bridge that is normally about three feet above the water, past the bench and on into the bottom right of the photo.