Woodland

Wealden woodland

Poor soil and steep hillsides made the High Weald unsuitable for intensive farming, so it was one of the last areas of England to be permanently settled. The Wealden woods are the remnants of a great forest which stretched in Roman times from Kent to Hampshire and probably originated in the ancient wildwood which grew to cover most of the country after the retreat of the last ice age, some 10,000 years ago.

After the eleventh century Wealden forest trees were extensively felled for building ships and firing the iron industry. Nevertheless, the High Weald still has up to 20% woodland cover, over double the national average.

The Loder Valley Reserve has several different types of woodland, notably semi-natural oak, beech, sweet chestnut, hazel coppice and alder carr.

Woodland layers

Humans learned long ago that they could harvest wood by coppicing - cutting the trunks of trees to ground level and letting shoots grow up from the stumps. Coppicing keeps woodland open, letting understorey plants and wildflowers gain a foothold.

In summer, a dense canopy is formed by mature broad-leaved trees, but where it thins, there is enough light for smaller trees - hazel, birch, holly and yew; and shrubs - hawthorn, bramble and dog rose, to grow. In deciduous woods, there is no leaf canopy in winter, which allows a huge variety of wildflowers to thrive in early spring - wood anemones, primroses, bluebells, wood sorrel and dog's mercury. This diversity of flora allows a corresponding variety of fauna. Woodland is also a major - but by no means the only - habitat for fungi.

Continue the tour

Back up to: Loder Valley Zone

Carry on to: Wetland