Goddington Park: A feast of Nature  

When we walk in the Park, do we really use our eyes to see what beauties of nature are on our doorstep?  Early in the year it is the small coppices close to the rugby pitches toward the Chelsfield Lane side of the park which are of principal interest being home to lesser celandine and wood anemones, and bluebells, which follow soon after. The Park is furnished with impressive tree specimens, none more impressive than the avenue of mature specimens which leads from the Goddington Lane entrance between Park Lodge and the Bowling Club which was most probably a driveway to Goddington House. In 2010, after the council had been doing some remedial work and cut an old tree to the ground, it was possible to do a rough estimate of age from counting rings, and allowing a few extra years for the areas where the rings were not so clearly marked, arrived at 100. It passed my mind that they could have been planted about the time of Victoria’s death in 1901 and included some excellent examples of Scots Pine. On the main park side of the Avenue, beside an English Oak, is another oak with much more shiny leaves, which is probably the Turkey Oak, Quercus serris. The young acorns on this tree nearly always seem deformed and this may be the work of the gall midge either Callirhytis erythrocephala or C. erythrostoma. The scrubby vegetation by the avenue trees on main the park side, has a handsome example of Elderberry and amongst the cow parsley can be found the creeping thistle with its sweet honey like scent. Be careful if you decide to smell this because of the prickles and the crop of nettles that grow with it. Nettles are an important food source for caterpillars of the Small tortoiseshell, Peacock and Red Admiral Butterflies  The Peacock butterfly hibernates as an adult over winter and may be seen in the park in March and April when it will lay a clutch of 200 or so eggs, cocooned in a silken net, on the tip of a vigorous nettle stem. In June you may be lucky to see these black caterpillars demolishing the leaves the nettle leaves. About 2008, discussions were held between the council and local nature preservation groups at that time and it was decided to leave a large patch of un-mown grass in front of the House which, with one exception when it was mowed by accident, has been done every year since. There has always been one or two paths through it, hopefully to leave the rest of this area for the plant and insect life. There is a magnificent beech tree with some excellent fruit, known as masts, on the Goddington car park side of the patch. The floral of this area is typical of chalk grassland. The years of fertiliser and weed killer treatment, that were the normal council routine in times gone by, meant that it has taken time for the area to increase its species diversity. The present regime is to make one cut in the autumn and generally another in the spring and then to leave the area except for the mowing the path. Ideally after the autumn cutting the hay should be removed to reduce the fertility of the soil as the more interesting down land plants thrive in spartan conditions. One promising addition to the flora of this area is the appearance hay rattle, the latter part of the name referring the noise made by the wind blowing through the seed capsules. Hay rattle is partially parasitic of grasses and legumes (pea family) and this stunts the growth of these more vigorous species allowing choicer species to establish. It is a major component of hay meadows such as those at Marden meadow with its green-winged orchid population. Depending on the year (and orchids are fickle beasts) up to 70 spikes of the pyramidal orchid and a handful of bee orchids may be found growing on the patch. In the past impressive patches of the common field scabious, Knautia arvensis, grew on the patch but these seem to have been in decline, but hopefully they will return. These were beloved by insects, particularly the six-spot burnet moth, Zygaena filipendulae, which can be seen in abundance in early July and can even be seen hatching from its cocoons on the long grasses around the scabious. Common wildflower occupants include what appears to be hybrid between the Lady’s bedstraw, Galium verum and hedge bedstraw, gallium mollugo, with intermediate cream coloured flowers. Look also for the beetle Oedermera nobilis with its swollen knees feeding on the flowers of wild carrot, Daucus carota and burnet saxifrage, Pimpinella saxigraga.  There is always something happening to the flora and fauna in the park and one way to enjoy it is to take a book of the British Flora with you such as W. Kemble Martin’s book or the Collins Wildflower Guide, both of which may even be found in Charity shops. Please enjoy what the Park has to offer but please leave what is there for others to enjoy and hope that seeds thus formed will lead to an increase in individual populations.