Meadowland

Fragrant, herb-filled, traditional meadows of the older generation's childhood memory are not natural. What grows in a meadow depends on the soil, the grazing and the haymaking regime, because mowing at different times allows different plants to reach maturity and set their seeds.

At the Loder Valley Nature Reserve, the traditional meadowland management of this part of south-east England has been maintained for more nearly 50 years. The beautiful Hanging Meadow is managed to increase plant diversity. In early autumn, just one-third of it at a time is mown to about 5 cm. This three year cycle maximises the populations of wild flowers and butterflies and supports well over 100 species, including oxeye daisy, lady's smock, bird's-foot trefoil, ragged robin and two species of orchid. Protecting old meadows such as this conserves not only a huge variety of plants, but also the insects, birds and small animals they support.

The Wakehurst bog oak

In 1976, when the Ardingly Reservoir was being constructed, a large piece of bog oak was unearthed from 4m (13 ft) below the surface and presented to the Wakehurst estate. It now lies in Hanging Meadow, carrying a plaque commemorating the opening of the Loder Valley Nature Reserve in 1980.

Bog oak is oak that has been preserved in wet airless conditions. It is often found in East Anglian fens and Irish peat bogs, but rarely elsewhere. The Wakehurst bog oak was probably deliberately put into one of the ponds serving local iron-makers, the idea being to store it until it was sawn into planks. Somehow, it was lost; the pond silted up and later became part of the woodland.

Radiocarbon dating from a centre sample showed it to be 1,100 years old, and a ring count, which allowed for some heartwood and sapwood being lost, indicated that the tree had lived for around 230 years before being felled in around 1086, the year the Domesday Book was completed.

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