Small-leaved lime, Tilia cordata in Roudsea wood Sunlight filters through a canopy of ancient woodland on a September day at Roudsea wood. Insects are lively in the warm sun. Speckled wood butterflies on the wing in glades between woodland fringe and rides, settling in leaf litter, on leaf and flower. Common darter and black darters bask in the warmth and mate.
Rousdea wood has charcoal pit-steads, tan bark barn, bark peelers house, potash kiln and powder house, The industrial archaeology of ancient woodland.
Rousdea wood has charcoal pit-steads, tan bark barn, bark peelers house, potash kiln and powder house, The industrial archaeology of ancient woodland.
In medieval England woodland trees were valued in a way that is foreign to our times. Woodland management was tightly regulated. Ownership of every aspect of woodland crops and products was specified, written into law, and protected.
We look for aspen, Populus tremula. Thomas Strickland, castellan of Sizergh, took 25 longbowmen with him to France, and brought all of his men safe home after the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The felling of aspen to make clogs was then prohibited as their stems were used for arrow shafts and the prolonged campaign in France led to a shortage. Longbows were made from ancient yews in Roudsea wood and south Cumbria.
Sunlight pours down on the glade beside the 16th century potash kiln, and speckled wood butterflies nectar on late flowers of ragwort. Wings translucent, and close by the shadowy wood. They settle on sunlit leaf-litter on the woodland floor and on shrubs of the woodland fringe.
Ancient trees grow out of limestone crags, yew and small leaved lime. There's a great burr on a bough of yew and the heart-shaped leaves of small-leaved lime cluster over it. Red yew arils glow in sunlight and we trace leaves back to the tree in this mingling of branches and foliage. Small-leaved lime, Tilia cordata. 5000 year- old pollen deposits show small-leaved lime to have been the dominant tree in North West Europe, in ancient woodland like Roudsea.
We look for aspen, Populus tremula. Thomas Strickland, castellan of Sizergh, took 25 longbowmen with him to France, and brought all of his men safe home after the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The felling of aspen to make clogs was then prohibited as their stems were used for arrow shafts and the prolonged campaign in France led to a shortage. Longbows were made from ancient yews in Roudsea wood and south Cumbria.
Sunlight pours down on the glade beside the 16th century potash kiln, and speckled wood butterflies nectar on late flowers of ragwort. Wings translucent, and close by the shadowy wood. They settle on sunlit leaf-litter on the woodland floor and on shrubs of the woodland fringe.
Ancient trees grow out of limestone crags, yew and small leaved lime. There's a great burr on a bough of yew and the heart-shaped leaves of small-leaved lime cluster over it. Red yew arils glow in sunlight and we trace leaves back to the tree in this mingling of branches and foliage. Small-leaved lime, Tilia cordata. 5000 year- old pollen deposits show small-leaved lime to have been the dominant tree in North West Europe, in ancient woodland like Roudsea.
There are lovely shrubs of Guelder rose, with a rich crop of berries. Spindle berries have a pink calyx which will split to reveal a bright orange seed.
Strong sunlight warms the boardwalk where common darters bask on the wire mesh. Bog myrtle is aromatic and there's an expanse of heather. Black darters are mating and resting in the sun on a fallen tree and its stump. The mature female has lost her youthful golden colour and looks metallic and dark. The male is black as his name tells.
The stream of Otter Dike flows over the raised mire and we reach an open pool where common darter bask on the rim of the sunlit boardwalk. Alder buckthorn fringes the pool, leaves of lovely autumn colour, red fruit ripening to purple. Alder buckthorn would have been cropped by charcoal burners to make the finest gunpowder.
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