Forest in the spotlight
THERE is an old definition of a ‘weed’ for a gardener which states that it will thrive and multiply under the prevailing conditions, whereas a ‘flower’ will not.
‘Flowers’ can become weeds, but rarely do weeds become flowers, and then only when they are moved from their country of origin to somewhere else.
So, what does ‘prevailing conditions’ mean? To start with, the soil; this can be too wet or too dry for certain plants. It must not be too acidic or too basic: it must or must not contain certain minerals.
The amount of light the plant receives must be just right. Some plants will not thrive in shade, others in direct sunlight. The temperature range must be just right; many plants are said to be ‘hardy’ if they survive the lowest temperatures of the winter – clearly this will depend on where in the world they are.
Non-hardy plants will be killed off by those temperatures. In some places this can be governed not only by the location of the place there are in, but whether they are on a north or south facing slope.
The Friends of the
Charnwood Forest’s speaker this month, Uta Hamzaoui, has been working on the Living Landscapes project in the Charnwood Forest since 2012.
Her job is to explore the various areas in the Forest, mainly outside designated reserves, and to advise landowners of the best methods of maintaining interesting environments, mainly for the plant life, though she did mention a couple of rare bugs at the end of her talk. At present the Living Landscape project covers the Forest and the Soar and Wreake valleys, but may be extended to two further areas around the Eyebrook reservoir.
Certain ‘prevailing conditions’ did not have to be covered; the Forest has a fairly uniform climate, and annual plants will have seed that set and flourish at the right time of year.
Light is not a problem, as there are no real mountains to shield out the sunlight. This only leaves soils. These depended on the nature of the rocks where they were formed and the drainage.
The oldest rocks in the Forest are over 600 million years old, and formed part of the volcanic activity which took place in those times. Soils on those rocks are thin and acidic.
By 250 million years ago mudstones had formed, and desert conditions prevailed. The heavy clays we now see are red in colour from the sands. Finally the glaciers of the ice age carved through the rocks, resulting in some places having excellent drainage, others poor, and a few places where there is virtually none.
The next invasion was the farmer and agriculture. The tree cover was virtually eliminated. Most of the Forest is not suitable for ploughing, with rocks protruding through the soil, so pasture and grazing animals formed the bulk of the farming activity. In fact, certain types of heathland can only be preserved economically by grazing. Streams and rivers drained much of the land with a little encouragement, but in a few places bogs and wetlands still prevail.
Our speaker selected examples of each type of habitat, and gave us details of some of the plants to be found on each, including some interesting facts about symbiotic plants and semi-parasitic ones. These were all well illustrated with ‘slides’. We all came away somewhat wiser than we may have been before.
The next meeting will be on February 17, at Woodhouse Eaves Village Hall, when Peter Liddle, once the county archaeologist, will talk about Lady Jane Grey and Bradgate House.