Guided Tour round Park Wood

It was early June when Mr S and I went on a guided walk of the Park Woods which I recently became acquainted with. The day started off dreary with heavy rain and so it didn’t look good for our planned afternoon visit to Park Wood. The weather forecasters said it was going to be a dry afternoon and so it turned out to be. Barbra Lakin (Biodiversity and Landscape Officer for Somerset County Council) was our guide. Straightaway she told us how trees are surveyed into categories, ‘Notable’, ‘Ancient’ and ‘Veteran’ and what features a particular specimen needs to have in order to qualify for one of these labels.

All of these trees are precious, supporting as they do so many other species in their canopies and the structures themselves. In my opinion, the current ideas regarding planting hundreds of saplings in order to mitigate the loss of these habitats loss through urban development falls a long way short of the reality. Only recently in Wells during August an old hedge had been removed by housing developers, old hedges and trees and all the wildlife just cannot be replaced!

Of course, a mature wood comprises not only trees but lots of other flora. Open glades created by the removal of diseased Ash trees and other timber harvesting are now filled with species welcoming the new light. Barbra pointed out several including Herb Paris which is apparently an indicator species of Ancient Woodland, showing that the area was wooded long before the current planting took place.

Herb Paris

Sunny glades also provide shelter from the strong wind that we have been experiencing recently, and I spotted demoiselles, four spotted chasers, red admirals and painted ladies amongst others taking advantage of them. Isn’t it wonderful to see so many painted ladies this year, after virtually none last year.

At the very start of the walk along the field edge we were introduced to different thistles of which Carduus acanthoides, The Welted Thistle, 

but I wonder whether this is Carduus crispus as it has strong spines and the flower stalks are spiny to the top. 

There were a number of interesting sedges which were coming into flower, but I did not take notes of these.

At one point where the paths diverge there was a tall umbellifer pulling up towards the light which we were all warned not to touch: Hemlock water dropwort

Hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) 

Common marsh bedstraw was growing through the brambles..

Unlike the garden escapee the Yellow archangel growing in the woods does not have the leaf variagation.

Yellow archangel

The field rose here bathed in green light filtering through the leaf canopy.

Rosa Arvensis -Field Rose

It had masses of stamens and longer than I had expected. There are quite a few of these wild roses which have white petals growing on woodland and their edges around Wells.