A stroll on the wild side ...

I grew up being told that our rainfall was plentiful, we had lakes, reservoirs, ponds, green grass, lots of trees, fields of rainbows .. yellows, blues, greens, creams, interspersed with white daisies and red poppies .... and yet 40 – 50 years later as soon as it doesn’t rain for a few days, here in the South East, we have a drought.

When I went to see The Silent Pianist speak .. I had a walk around Arlington Reservoir (above) built for water storage, so that in the year 2010 I can have a shower! Good thing too. So here’s a brief summary of works, facts, pictures of some of the plants and wildlife, some history and a general stroll around the park.

It’s a lovely circular trail of about 1 ½ miles (4 km) and takes approximately an hour – perfect for a leisurely walk on a summer’s day. Construction began in 1969, with the spoil being spread across the site creating a beautiful rolling landscape around its circular shape. The underlying weald clay gives a natural water tight base, so when a meander in the Cuckmere River was cut off all that was needed was a concrete faced earth dam.

Ox-Eye – with sprig of cowparsley – a typical meadow flower

A full size reconstruction of a woolly mammoth, at Ipswich Museum, UK

During excavations several interesting animal remains were found including a mammoth tusk, a bison horn and the skull of a woolly rhinoceros dating from 250,000 years ago. Some facts about the reservoir ... the kind of eclectic details many of us enjoy reading:

Area: 49 hectares, or the total of 121 English football pitches
Maximum depth of reservoir: 11.3 metres (12.3 yards)
Capacity: 3,500 million litres, or 11,665million soft drink cans
Recorded bird species = 173
Recorded butterfly species = 35


Marbled White - it is thought that Red Fescue grass is essential in their diet

A couple of conservation thoughts:
A water butt can collect up to 85,000 litres of (free) rainwater per annum
Using mulch and bark on your garden can reduce evaporation by up to 75%

There are reed beds protecting the banks from erosion, while providing nesting and feed habitats for many birds including wagtails, warblers, kingfishers and wildfowl. The grasslands are managed as wildflower meadows where we are able to see the Common Spotted Orchid, Ox-eyes, Common Milkwort, Cowslips, Grass Chalkland Vetch, Hairy Mallow, Meadow Buttercups, with various grasses including Red Fescue and Meadow Foxtail.

Common Spotted Orchid

Red Fescue grass below

Sections of these grasslands are cut in the autumn on a two-year rotation, when the clippings are removed, because if they are left the soil fertility will build up tending to favour a few coarse grasses and disadvantage the colourful wildflowers. There are hay meadows – these rough grasslands create an ideal habitat for the small mammals, the favoured food of the barn owls nesting nearby.

The surrounding woodland contain coppiced hazel trees (underwood), interspersed with oak and ash; the native tree theme was continued within the reservoir when 30,000 trees were planted – oaks, birch, wild cherry, hazel and hawthorn. The hedges are created using a traditional technique known as “hedge-laying”. All this diversity attracts nightingales, green woodpeckers, chiffchaff, hedgehogs, voles, shrews, mice, speckled wood butterflies, the marbled white .. as well as painted ladies and the peacock butterfly.

May blossom

Northern Shoveler – a dabbling duck

There’s an Osprey Hide, particularly valuable from March to October when the rainbow trout are beloved by the migrating ospreys, and a Bird Sanctuary where many bird species can be seen including great crested grebe, Canada geese, kingfishers as well as the thousands of birds migrating either during summer or autumn, including pochard, widgeon, mallard and shoveler. Three ponds have been dug which attract all kinds of wildlife from birds like heron, to the smallest microscopic organisms.

School groups come out to the Reserve using its nature trail, while the pond-dipping platform provides a perfect stage to view the large number of aquatic insects, such as dragonfly nymphs, pond skaters, water boatmen as well as amphibians like frogs and newts.

A bluebell glade and an avenue of horsechestnut trees - pictures I took on that balmy evening

The wonderful thing is the Reserve has been designed for all .. school children, picnickers, trout fishermen, bird watchers, walkers .. in this tranquil position nestling in the Cuckmere River valley while providing that necessary haven for wildlife ... trees, plants, flowers, insects, amphibians, small reptiles, birds et al .. what more could one want – oh yes – some sun and that’s exactly what I got when I visited.

Dear Mr Postman ..to my surprise my mother was awake enough to watch the State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday .. I’m not sure how much she saw, but it made a change. She still can’t hear, which is rather frustrating .. but we cannot do much about it as the bad cold-cough is still around. She’s still with it though – one of the carers had been home to Glasgow and Marie’s return brought a “oh hello Mrs Glasgow” .. that’s what my mother calls her! I’m not sure if Ma knew she’d been away as such .. but it’s good we still get some reaction! When she does talk – she talks slowly .. as though I can’t hear!!!, but she chatters away to herself sometimes ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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