Tower and Town, February 2022 (view the full edition)Nature Notes: Savernake ForestThere are many natural features that make the Marlborough environs attractive to lovers of the great outdoors: the River Kennet, the Kennet and Avon canal, the local downs with their ancient monuments and white horses and-right on its doorstep-Savernake Forest. Standing on a cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn, an area of approximately 4,500 acres, it is privately owned by the Earl of Cardigan and his son Viscount Savernake, and administered by trustees. Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by Forestry England on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake, Britain's only privately-owned forest, is maintained by closing it to the public one day in the year. During my first visits in the early 1980's I discovered 'Eight Walks' in the heart of the forest. Taking the various tracks to the right and left I was soon seeing and hearing redstart, wood warbler and tree pipit, while woodcock and nightjar appeared at dusk in the summer months. Forty years on and we have all but lost most of these special breeding species, but there is still plenty to be enjoyed. February is a good month in which to hear the loud 'tchwitt tchwitt' calls of the nuthatch, the high, wispy song of the diminutive treecreeper and the drumming of greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers, the latter now a national rarity. Winter visitors often include redpolls and siskins, bramblings and the elusive hawfinch. Quiet and patient observation, preferably before people and their dogs arrive, is the best way to unlock some of the forest's secrets: there are fallow, roe and muntjac deer as well as badger and fox. Along some of the rides in high summer butterfly enthusiasts seek out purple hairstreaks, silver-washed fritillaries, white admirals and the magnificent purple emperor. Amongst 50 or so plant species are four types of helleborine, a late-flowering species of orchid, including the broad-leaved and violet forms, which have even been spotted along the Grand Avenue. Savernake has a number of 'monumental' trees, including the King of Limbs, and the Big Belly Oak (pictured) which is visible as you drive from Marlborough to Burbage. It is the great grandfather of them all, over 1000 years old, taking root around the time William the Conqueror defeated King Harold in 1066. Apparently Henry VIII was out hunting in Savernake in 1535 when he spied young Jane Seymour for the first time! What secrets those magnificent oaks and beeches must know! |
