Dry as a bone

 

The face of the forest changes between the seasons. During the wet season the woods through which Warwickslade Cutting meander are impassable without wellies, and even then you can fall foul of a hollow. Currently though Warwickslade Cutting is bone dry. When this was a deeply cut dead straight forest drain Warwickslade Cutting was an appropriate name, not so now it's course is restored to natural meanders. Warwickslade Brook feels more appropriate.

Warwickslade Cutting

Glorious out in the forest again this morning. Warwickslade Cutting near Camel Green and it's connection to Highland Water, I'll frequently take a shot of this section, although that's usually during autumn as the stream here runs wide and shallow allowing for magical reflections of the canopies autumn tints. Not so reflective at this time of year though as the water level drops and the flow narrows soon to disappear below ground, though still as beautiful. The restored courses of the forests' drains  to their original  organically developing slow flowing meanders has transformed the forest and continue to do so.

Welcomed rain

 

The recent rains have given even the smallest of the forest streams their voices back, and the brooks are back to babbling their song as they pass. The forest has enjoyed the rain, looking lush and verdant for it.

Heart of the forest

At the heart of the forest are it's streams, and the heart of those streams are the springs, spreads and collects that feed them.

Warwickslade

Once the straightest of straight Victorian forestry drains Warwickslade Cutting was restored to a meandering course back in the noughties, and now both stream and environs are re-established.

Wet wilderness

Winter's inclement weather changes the forest, turning it into a totally different beast from it's usual welcoming environment. It's at times like this, with swathes of the forest inundated and impassible or at least unnavigable, I imagine the forest of yesteryear; less formal or managed, a real wilderness where keeping to a route or travelling at a reasonable pace is near impossible. Year on year since the stream restoration project began over 20 years ago you've seen the forest's stream environs regain some of that wildness; its not just the streams themselves either, all the rivulets that feed them back up too, filling the surrounding woodland, creating an even more extensive obstacle. It makes for interesting walks.

Knight Wood - Warwick Slade

Knight Wood - Warwick Slade

No Man's Walk

 

I have no idea why No Man's Walk is so named, it's always appeared quite a innocuous stretch of land, nothing visibly or emotionally disconcerting to the place. For years the woodland through here which bordered a narrow deep cut drain, the headwater of Warwickslade Cutting, was a really great spot for Hedgehog mushrooms; though a decade or so ago, the drain was restored to it's original course, the environs now becoming much boggier, and as a consequence the woodlands are not such a great spot for Hedgehog mushrooms. Looks nicer though, more florally diverse, more organic looking; it's natural look is far better. One note: it's not at all boggy at the moment, oh contraire, the forest continues to desiccate as our heatwave continues. 

Knight Wood

The forest is full of magical hidden places, places that are a little off the beaten track, the places in-between, overlooked and rarely trodden. Places where you seldom, if ever, see others, and connection to woods and nature is easy. These are some of my favourite places, as they retain a certain something only felt, impossible to articulate. Above, a restored Warwickslade cutting meanders through the misty stands of Knight Wood; the restoration has resulted in the woodland slowly becoming waterlogged... it's welly country, and will only get wetter as the effects of restoration bed in. Knight Wood is unenclosed deciduous old forest, the oldest tracts being those of majestic veteran beech on the, slightly, higher ground, more recent the mature oaks through which Warwickslade cutting flows (they date somewhere in the 1800's, and drainage). Some of these oaks are not liking the wetter aspects of the restored landscape one bit, their broken limbs litter the woodland floor and several of the trees are looking rather peaky. Full restoration to bog woodland will be a long journey mind, it'll take decades for these oaks to be replaced by returning carr species. You know, I don't remember ever seeing another soul amongst these oaks, I'm sure there must be other visitors, and maybe they're thinking that they've never seen anybody here either.

Warwickslade Cutting

Glorious walking today.

Warwickslade Cutting

Today the forest looked like this.

Warwickslade Cutting

Water is beginning to settle in the forest, the ground has noticeably softened, to the point where every footfall is now accompanied by a splash.  Amongst the wetter lower lying stands every ditch and hollow has become a watery obstacle, there come times in the forest when your boots never properly dry, now is shaping up to be one of those times. Throughout the forest the tiny tributaries and smaller water courses are coming into their own, the landscape is changed. For much of the year you can easily step over Warwickslade Cutting (a former straight drain restored to its former meandering course, here running through Camel Green), though the recent rains have brought about a transformation, its become a proper stream  and will probably stay like this until spring. This is a lovely spot and one we'll return to as autumn continues towards it's colourful crescendo, the reflection of autumn's tints in the puddled terrain are beautiful.  

Warwickslade Cutting

Not a cutting any more. Warwickslade Cutting, once a straight, deep cut, forest drain, now meanders gracefully between the open stands of Warwick Slade, a beautiful and vibrant stream.  You'd not know, the transformation still amazes me every time I walk here. Already the Slade is becoming boggy, and care is needed when walking the course of the stream, or before you know it, you'll be shin deep with wet feet. I got wet feet. There's no doubt the forest is much wetter, and for much longer, than it was 20 years ago. The affects of bog woodland restoration have been pronounced in this part of the forest particularly. During the wettest periods the open areas, and woodland, are underwater for days or even weeks at a time, and areas of that standing water will endure until late spring. Calm walking today, lovely, the air was clean too.

Warwickslade restoration

Back to Warwickslade Cutting (as was) today, after yesterdays downpour the stream overflowed it's margins to flood large areas of it's surrounding woodland. I walk the forest often and over the years have seen this area change through the restoration process, though it's changed so much that at times it can be difficult to orientate myself.  It struck me, that if you'd not walked here for 10 years (or so), even if before you knew the area well, you'd probably be at a loss to orientate yourself. The woodland wet with standing water (some deep), a stream runs through, though where exactly you can always be sure, the woodland environ is lush and green, and the everything's alive; it really wasn't like that before. As the old meandering watercourses are restored and the woodland returns to its wetter 'bog woodland' nature, you get a hint of how wild and inhospitable an environment it must have been in ages past when the weather was against you. Today though, it was just stunning.

Warwickslade Cutting

Warwickslade Cutting is another good example of the positive aspects of stream restoration in the New Forest. Ten years ago Warwickslade Cutting was a straight deep cut drain which ran for about a mile and a half, through woodland from Warwick Slade to the edge of Poundhill Enclosure, where it turned into another straight drain and fed into Highland Water. As with most of the drains, it was fairly sterile, bare gravel bed and sheer banks. Now look at it.  The woodland has been opened up, the stream now shallower and meanders all over the woodland. And now, it's thriving, with a huge diversity of flora and insect calling it home.