The subject of John Sears Study Day this year was The Natural History of Oxhey Woods, and BADFA members gathered in the Bushey Museum Meeting Room at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday, 28th April, 2002, to hear his talk followed by a slide show. We had been advised to bring a picnic lunch because the afternoon was to be spent in Oxhey Woods carrying out a field study.

As an introduction John played atmospheric music by Debussy which, as he said, paints a picture rather than tells a story. Woodland is a combination of trees, plants and the butterflies, birds, and animals who live there but the whole has a spiritual dimension the appreciation of which seemed to be at the heart of John’s enthusiasm as he shared his wide knowledge of our natural history and the music and literature which it inspires.

During the talk

Some members of BADFA remembered John’s study of Berrygrove Woods in 1994 when Olive Lindford was part of the group. Olive, a keen naturalist, has sadly died and John dedicated his talk to her.

In the preface which John wrote to tell us about our Study Day he said ‘Oxhey Woods were almost certainly part of a great swathe of Ancient Woodland lying between the river Colne and the Thames in prehistoric times. Today traditional boundaries have vanished instead housing estates have encroached on all sides but a remnant remains which has many features of old woodland and these our study would hope to identify.’

John told us that the definition of ancient woodland is that it has existed for at least 500 years. There are many indicators: archaeological evidence such as earth banks which followed ancient boundaries in Anglo Saxon times, local records, ancient maps, museums and archives where details about the sale of woodland products can be consulted. Evidence of the management of ancient woodland can also be seen. For example standard trees were grown for timber used in house building, wagons, and ships, native trees which coppiced well would have the poles cut off in the winter, usually on a 7 to 15 year rotation. Local variations are interesting, for example in areas where there was plenty of stone for house building and for boundary walls trees were usually coppiced and the poles used for charcoal and iron smelting, particularly in the Lake District.

Johns provision of excellent slides and a handout listing the names of plants and flowers that are indicators of ancient woodland gave us some idea of what to look for on our field study. While the more exotic specimens, such as the Wild Gladiolus occasionally, found in the New Forest, were the subject of some of Johns slides we were able to find and recognise Woodland Hawthorn, the variety with 2 pale stigmas, Pendulous Sedge, Sanicle, Small Leaved Lime and, of course bluebells which were certainly at their best when we arrived at Oxhey Woods.

We parked our cars on the upper edge of the wood where elegant houses indicate the prosperity of the Northwood boundary. We enjoyed spells of sunshine and appreciated the spring green beauty of birdsong at Bluebell time…  John’s words from the introduction he wrote for us. Unfortunately motor bikes have rutted the paths and some bluebells have been trampled probably by people trying to avoid the mud and deep puddles which the combination of wet weather and bikers have exaggerated. John pointed out that in the interests of conservation bluebells shouldn’t be picked but trampling is far worse. However, they still reign supreme; they arrived with the birch after a succession of ice ages, they were once our national emblem and were the subject of myths and folklore being associated with fairies and witch craft. The fairies were said to punish those who trampled the bluebells encouraging pixies to follow the wrongdoers bringing them trouble and grief. Chris Beney said that riding motor bikes along footpaths was against the Law (unlike pushbikes which was just civil trespass so in the case of successful prosecution one could imagine a certain amount of trouble for these miscreants. John urged us to take action.

In the woods

At the top of the wood a Broad Buckler Fern was identified, this plant likes high humidity and rich acid soil, and the little appendages under the fronds which have a stripe makes it recognizable. In July the spores are catapulted out to produce new plants. We stopped at a Rhododendron, a plant favoured by Victorians to create ground cover for the shooting of pheasants and within living memory much of this local wood was used for this purpose. John reinforced the view that this plant is now very unpopular with conservationists.

A moth partly camouflaged on John Mackenzie-Corby's coat.

We carried on down the slope and at the lower level we stopped at an Ash tree, the last to come into leaf and an acid hating species. We measured trees, we stopped at a Douglas Fir, loved by squirrels. John showed us how to identify this tree by studying the cones which have three points. We found Hornbeam which we identified by the deeply furrowed leaves with veins which are very marked. Apparently it is excellent for wood carving and John mentioned Herkomer in this connection.

Richie Bearfield was the first to point out Pendulous Sedge and we also found Sanicle related to Cow Parsley and Herb Bennet which grows on woodland margins and has healing properties. We heard a black cap and a chiff chaff singing of which Edward Thomas said “I am moved this least of songs.”

We did not reach the end of the wood which is bounded by the Oxhey estate nor did we find the Wild Service tree which Olive Lindford said she had seen there in a letter she had written to John and which he had seen at an earlier date. As we made our way back to our cars we were encouraged to continue with our study of the woods when there was more time. We thanked John for another interesting study day and for helping us to be more aware of the need to conserve the remains of old woodland for posterity. We also thank David Bearfield for organizing the day and Hazel Bearfield and their son Richie for preparing tea, coffee and biscuits to sustain us at the interval when John was giving his talk.

Sally Banks

Most of the participants