WEST DEAN WOODLANDS

ACCESS: Westdean Woods proper, the Sussex Wildlife Trust' Reserve, are normally closed to the public, although open on special days during the summer when the work of the Reserve (rotation of coppicing and wood products, mainly) is demonstrated. However, one can enjoy this pleasant area of woodlands along public rights of way. Driving north from Chichester along the A286, turning left when reaching West Dean. The turning is none too obvious, so care needs to be taken. Look for a pub, the Selsey Arms, on the right: the turning is directly opposite. This is a winding country road and has a distinct feel about it which is difficult to define. It's very pleasant, rising and falling in places, with a diversity of countryside including some agricultural land and mature woodland. Stopping anywhere in a wooded area is likely to produce the usual run of woodland birds.

Continue along this road and at the first main turning on your left, drive straight ahead, almost immediately climbing up through woodlands where wild Daffodils bloom in the spring. After a fairly sharp left-hand turn, a small car-park will be seen on the right. It is an 'unofficial' car-park, but people visiting the area use it regularly. After parking, continue along the road on foot until a sharp left hand bend begins the descent down to Stapleash Farm. At this point, drop down on to a public foot-path and turn right.

The track is normally negotiable under all weather conditions, rising gently through woodland belonging to the West Dean Estates on the left and administered by the Sussex Wildlife Trust on the right. Stick to this right of way, please. Trespass is frowned upon. Where the track leaves the woodland, there is a suitable place to sit and listen for any birds which may be around. Onward leads up through a more open area but which is growing quickly and which has change markedly during the last few years. There are several points where you can look around. Continue up through the conifers, eventually reaching the South Downs Way where one can turn either left or right. At the junction, there was last autumn an area of Maize especially for game birds. This provided a lot of food and cover for other birds, too, including a Short-eared Owl which we encountered on a day in November.

Walking left provides some excellent views, way out across the coastal plain to the Isle of Wight, and on the right on to the Weald. Agriculture is intense up here, so birds in general tend to be few and far between. Return along the same route.

Please do not leave public rights of way. All habitats can be enjoyed without doing so.

BIRDLIFE: Spring and early summer are probably the best times to visit for birds. Most of the usual woodland birds are represented and there may be surprises. Buzzards are now becoming frequent and even Raven has been noted. Winter can have its surprises too, with wandering Hen Harriers (usually ring-tails) and the occasional Red Kite. Crossbills are recorded occasionally. Hawfinches are encountered very occasionally, usually in the trees above Stapleash Farm, or in the old orchard close at hand.

MAMMALS: Roe Deer are numerous, but seen infrequently. The Grey Squirrel occurs, but this is a keepered area so here, at least, they are infrequent. Although we have not seen any other species of deer, Fallow is not impossible: there are many populations along the South Downs.

PLANTS: Typical woodland-edge plants may be found along the edge of the track. Orchids are not numerous, generally, but at the right time the Fly Orchid can be seen and last year (2001) we found a Greater Butterfly Orchid. On one occasion we photographed a Toothwort plant. These woods are, of course, noted for their spring display of wild Daffodils. Specialist chalkland plants do not thrive here, unfortunately, most of the area being under forestry and agriculture in general.

INSECTS: This is not an outstanding area for butterflies, but we have noted Green and Purple Hairstreaks, Orange-tip, Comma, Painted Lady, Brimstone and Grizzled Skipper. Silver-washed Fritillaries are possible.

Perhaps the only dragonflies to be expected are migrants - Common and Ruddy Darters, and Migrant Hawkers. The last species is often abundant at times of an influx from the Continent, typically found along the edge of woodland. Unfortunately, there is no standing water anywhere up here, other than after heavy rains when the track through the conifers can have pools in ruts caused by agricultural vehicles.

REPTILES and AMPHIBIANS: Both Adders and Common Lizards have been noted.

To give you a better impression of what this area has to offer, we include a number of Diary entries below. We visit mainly in the spring and summer, but occasionally enjoy a winter walk, too.

2001 - 03 January:
A bright and even sunny morning, so, after a few jobs around the garden, we drove over to West Dean, by way of the Trundle. Getting there was not as straightforward as usual since some roads north of Chichester have been blocked off with piping and all the other paraphernalia of drainage. By the time we got to the usual parking space at Westdean, showers had moved in and from time to time, as we made our way up the track, we got wet. Never mind, it was nice to be out!

CHAFFINCHES were the 'feature birds' of our walk. There were lots of them in the field where the sheep used to be. Unfortunately, most of them were rather far away and I never did manage to sort out any Bramblings, which I suspected might have been there, too. We saw a SONG THRUSH and then two FIELDFARES. We could hear REDWINGS, but seeing them proved to be rather more difficult. Walking up the track, we heard MARSH TITS calling, also a NUTHATCH. A BULLFINCH was nice to hear, too.

Back at the road, there was a considerable commotion, presumably created by a predator, maybe a hawk of some kind. The disturbance produced a MISTLE THRUSH, which flew away rattling. There were lots more CHAFFINCHES there, Later on, while parked on the elbow bend above Stapleash Farm, we heard and saw a handful of YELLOWHAMMERS.

2000 - 07 April:
A frosty morning, but with beautiful sunshine. Drove over to West Dean Woods and parked in the usual spot under the BEECH trees. On our arrival, a CHIFFCHAFF was singing as we walked along towards the track, and we saw a MISTLE THRUSH. Other songsters included BLACKBIRD, GREENFINCH, WREN and ROBIN. As we walked up the track, a YELLOWHAMMER flew over calling. We heard a NUTHATCH, too, also aCOAL TIT in song. A singing TREECREEPER was good to hear. The flowers were good and I took some pictures: WOOD ANEMONES, CUCKOO-FLOWER, VIOLETS and CUCKOO-PINT. A COMMA flew by, then we had our first BRIMSTONE of the day. The DAFFODILS were virtually over, unfortunately. I had heard that they had been good this year, but we were concerned at the comparative absence of flowering heads, over or otherwise. A GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER was calling in the trees.

The open heathland (much growing up now) and pine woodlands produced several BRIMSTONES, some singing 'CRESTS, a certain pair of GOLDCRESTS which we saw admirably, a lot of CHAFFINCHES, a second and third COMMA and quite a few SISKINS which seemed to be very numerous. Coming back down the track we heard a singing MARSH TIT. LINNETS were over the open heathland, presumably nesting - or expecting to. Back at the car-park, we saw another YELLOWHAMMER.

For lunch, we planned to drive to Westdean Gardens. On the way, with the roof back, Ann spotted a bird of prey. We stopped and we delighted to see three BUZZARDS, circling overhead. We had excellent views of them.

Lunch at West Dean Gardens was excellent. We sat outside in the sun and it was very warm, very warm indeed. A pair of STOCK DOVES entertained us, also a pair of GOLDFINCHES. Afterwards, we had a walk, visiting the Walled Gardens, then making our way right to the far end of the Gardens. A BEE-FLY was around some HYACINTHS in the Walled gardens. WATER CROWFOOT was in bloom in the River Lavant which was flowing nicely. At the very far end, we heard a LITTLE OWL, but could not see it. A TURTLE DOVE was singing somewhere in the woodlands, although, again, we could not make eye contact. Where the Lavant flows through the wall looked a good place for dragonflies later on. There were at least a dozen HOUSE SPARROWS there.

Back at home, I spent some time pottering in the garden. Alarms from local birds drew my attention to a very large bird of prey which might or might not have been a Goshawk. It appeared twice, but gave me no positive identification. It moved away north-east.

2001 - 22 June:
A slower start than I had hoped, but we got away at last and were soon parking under the BEECH trees at Westdean, near the track which leads up to the South Downs' Way. The walk up was slow and steady. It was very warm indeed! Warbler song was excellent: we heard several CHIFFCHAFFS, at least three GARDEN WARBLERS, numerous BLACKCAPS and a couple of COMMON WHITETHROATS by the time we had walked up through the woodlands and over the open areas to reach the South Downs' Way. We heard, too, a couple of WILLOW WARBLERS. We heard singing LINNETS, which may have bred here, and a GREEN WOODPECKER. A STOCK DOVE was nice to hear. Near where the Daffodils bloom, a BULLFINCH was calling.

The one plant we went to search for, we found - GREATER BUTTERFLY ORCHID. I'm not sure whether we had seen this before when we have walked here in past summers, but it was nice to find it and be sure of our identification. There were at least four plants along one short stretch of the path. Other than the orchid, we saw YELLOW PIMPERNEL and one ORCHID with purple flowers and barred leaves. YELLOW RATTLE was common in some places and we found some MILKWORT and three COMMON VALERIAN plants. One thicket of HONEYSUCKLE was most impressive.

Butterflies were dominated by SPECKLED WOODS of which we must have seen at least 20 on our walk. Invariably they were in sun-dappled parts along the path. We saw, too, one MEADOW BROWN and one LARGE SKIPPER. A faded RED ADMIRAL looked very tatty.

On some HOGWEED, I found at least three THICK-LEGGED FLOWER BEETLES. Coming back down the path, near where the Daffodils bloom, we found a tiny dead ADDER, some eight inches long. It had not been long dead. I had the feeling that someone had deliberately stamped on it.

Back at the car-park, we had our lunch, listening to a distant TURTLE DOVE and a NUTHATCH. It was very pleasant. A MARSH TIT came around us, but we could not see it.

2000 - 25 August:
A bright sunny morning, although with a strong easterly wind. We had intended to drive up to Tugeley Wood, but in the event decided to go initially to West Dean woodlands and then on from there, somewhere relatively close. Watering the garden first thing, I had a SPECKLED WOOD around the garden.

It was a pleasant walk from the usual car-park and so up the track towards the South Downs Way. A GREEN WOODPECKER was seen, and we had the first of many HEDGE BROWNS. SPECKLED WOODS were abundant! Near Richard's cottage, I had a fleeting view of I thought was a probable female PURPLE EMPEROR, although alas it did not stay for us, but swept away through the trees. All I saw was a very large brown butterfly, in fact, with a strong flight. I could not see any white on the wings. Farther along, we saw two male BRIMSTONE butterflies.

Walking up through the more open part, we saw a blue butterfly of some species which I managed to photograph. The underside looked different to anything with which I am familiar, otherwise it looked like a COMMON BLUE male. On the way back down the track, a SMALL SKIPPER was seen, also a CLOUDED YELLOW and an ESSEX SKIPPER. A female GREEN-VEINED WHITE was on MARJORAM. Coming back through the woodlands, we found a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, a nice find at this time of the year when they are all probably on migration and thus hard to detect. We had good views of it. A SILVER WASHED FRITILLARY was good to see as it flew along a side path, coming straight for us. It looked a bit worn. Over the field which has been harvested recently, we saw another CLOUDED YELLOW.

We had our lunch at 12.30, under the BEECH trees. Afterwards, we drove back to the main road and then to Heyshott Pond where we saw two CLOUDED YELLOWS immediately! We set off to have our usual walk, along by the Pond and so to the fields beyond. However, harvesting was in progress and we did not want to breathe in all the dust so we turned back, but not before hearing a TREECREEPER in one of the OAKS. The only Odonata at the Pond were a couple of BLUE-TAILED DAMSELS and a handful of COMMON BLUE DAMSELS.

2001 - 10 November:
Feeling very cold this morning as I went out into the garden to check the temperatures. The thermometer was standing at 33 Fahrenheit at 7 o'clock. This had been the lowest temperature throughout the night, too. Wind from the north, around Force 1.

After lunch, Ann and I drove to West Dean Woods, and walked up to the South Downs Way. It was a beautiful afternoon, although some cloud was beginning to move in. The woodlands were largely silent, as we expected them to be, but we recorded: LONG-TAILED TIT, NUTHATCH, BLACKBIRD, CHAFFINCH, WOODPIGEON, YELLOWHAMMER, MISTLE THRUSH, WREN, ROBIN, GOLDCREST, MARSH TIT, COAL TIT, JAY, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER and TAWNY OWL. The last was heard calling, as we walked down the path at dusk. PHEASANTS were everywhere! Indeed, from where we turned off the main Chichester/Midhurst road, they lined the roadsides and were scattered across the fields in amazing numbers. Sadly, there were many casualties on the roads and in the verges, victims of passing vehicles.

Back at the car, we heard a SONG THRUSH calling as it was going to roost.

Our best bird of the afternoon was along the South Downs Way - a splendid SHORT-EARED OWL which gave us brilliant views as it quartered a rough hillside. To and fro it passed, hovering from time to time, turning on a sixpence frequently, then to drop on to prey which was, of course, invisible to us. Later, after the owl had gone, we had a look at the area, flushing a SKYLARK as we did so. The area did not look all that suitable for rodents, so I got the impression that perhaps the Owl had taken another SKYLARK.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of this afternoon was the magnificent sunset which thrilled us as the sun sank behind the Isle of Wight. I cannot recall seeing such a sunset for many a long time.

TO READ: The Sussex Wildlife Trust has a leaflet on the area and published a very useful book in 1993, entitled The Wild Places of Sussex - A guide to the Nature Reserves of the Sussex Wildlife Trust. A page of text about Ebernoe is complemented by a full-page sketch map.

Screen Management
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