Hazel Dormice Project

Some of the images used by the Brownies to inspire their messages to the dormice.

The Southborough Society are working hard on increasing the biodiversity on our land ‘Doctor’s Meadow’ which adjoins Southborough Common. Aside from all the work Kent High Weald Partnership and its volunteers have done on clearing willow, bracken, holly and other species that had overwhelmed the area, we are keen to improve the local fauna too.

After commissioning the Kent Wildlife Trust in 2017 to undertake a survey of the site, it suggested that endangered Hazel Dormice could inhabit the site and that this should be encouraged. Britain’s dormice population has declined a huge 51% since 2000 and are now predominantly confined to Southern England and Wales.

So to help these little guys out we have initiated a project in collaboration with Southborough Brownies and Cubs to construct nest boxes for the dormice to use in the Spring/Summer. The Brownies and Cubs have created poems that will be inscribed on the base of the nest boxes they make that will be installed soon on Doctor’s Meadow.

The nest box the Brownies and Cubs will be constructing.

We’d like to thank Alsford Timber, Tonbridge for donating the materials to support this project.

Here are a couple of examples of the poems from Southborough Brownies. We look forward to making the boxes together!

Secrets of Southborough Common

Yesterday was the opening of the ‘Secrets of Southborough Common’ exhibition; an exciting showcase of the work funded by the National Heritage Lottery and undertaken by Kent High Weald Partnership, Southborough and High Brooms Archaeological Society and the Southborough Society.

The ongoing work of the Kent High Weald Partnership on the Common has made a huge impact on both the environmental sustainability of the site and for the enjoyment of visitors to our ‘cherished green space’. As part of their work Ian Johnstone and his team have been able to produce detailed mapping of the Common and have published three Southborough Common Circular Walk maps. Along with major clearing and path resurfacing tasks they have also led wildlife, bat and fungi walks and facilitated a Forest School for youngsters to engage with the local environment.

SHAAS has been working on excavating the former ‘Brokes Mill’ site near Powdermill Lane and have unearthed some revealing finds which were on display. They have encouraged children to get involved by hosting some well-supported Archaeology taster days and welcoming visitors as part of the recent Heritage Open Days weekends.

The Southborough Society has sent off the first and most significant part of our archive to be digitised and are in the design stages of a new website that will display our photographs, postcards, maps and articles for the public to have access to for the first time. There was a preview at some of these rarely seen images and artefacts that link to Southborough Common as part of this group show.

Southborough Society’s sixteen panels detailing the Society and what it does, our Digitisation Project, The Common, St Peter’s Church and School and Cricket in Southborough.

At 1pm some fifty people gathered for a guided circular walk led by Ian Johnstone around the Common. Ian was taken back by just how well attended the walk was; testament to how grateful local residents are of this beautiful area and how interested they were to find out more about the history of the Common.

Ian Johnstone, Kent High Weald Partnership, about to start the Circular Walk yesterday.

The walk was based on ‘Walk One’ of the series of Southborough Common walks which featured ten points of interest, including the veteran oak and beech trees, the gravel pit, charcoal platform, former windmill site and the horse ring. Listening to the conversations, many people commented about how, although the regularly walk in the Common they didn't know about its fascinating history and rarely stopped to really look at the flora and fauna.

A really warm and friendly atmosphere amongst the walkers . Here they are heading up along the Wortleberry Wood Bank.

‘On the Boundary of Whortleberry Wood, 1892’. A photograph printed from a glass plate negative in the Southborough Society archive collection.

The boundary of Whortleberry Wood is a distinctive man made bank that was built up to enclose the wood from the ‘adjacent wood pasture and to prevent grazing animals from browsing the coppiced woodland’. Ian informed the walkers that evidence still remained towards the top of the bank of the iron fence that can be seen in the above photograph.

In the area known as the ‘Pineys’.

Heading towards one of the veteran oaks.

The exhibition was buzzing throughout the day and we would like to thank all the visitors for coming along and also Ian Johnstone (KHWP) and Tony Palmer and Di Drummond (SHAAS). Last but not least, we would like to thank the National Heritage Lottery Fund who has enabled us all to participate in such a wide-ranging and beneficial project for the local community.

If you are interested in finding our more about Southborough Common and volunteering and local archaeology, check out the links below:

https://khwp.org.uk/

http://southboroughcommon.co.uk/

https://www.southborougharchaeology.org/

Doctor's Meadow

Among the many activities of the Southborough Society and the duties that it carries out, possibly the least known and most surprising is that it owns and cares for a sizeable piece of land bordering Southborough Common.

 It is located along the western edge of the Common, opposite the slope on which the large beech trees grow, the other side of the stream.  Many people probably assume that it is part of the Common but it was in fact sold to the Society in 1980 by Mr and Mrs A. Pollock of Bentham Farm for the princely sum of £1.  It appears that the couple wanted to protect the wider area from development and permanently safeguard it as a haven for wildlife.  There were strict clauses in the legal document which meant that it could never be used for anything other than a nature reserve or be sold on to anyone other than an organisation with similar aims to the Southborough Society.

 So why the name “Doctor’s Meadow”? It is not known who the doctor which gave the site its name was.  You could be forgiven for thinking that the term “meadow” was a misnomer given its current state - in many places overgrown and impenetrable.  But as with the Common itself, the land was once a lot more open as it was managed with coppicing, pollarding and grazing widely practiced.  The last remnant of meadow can be seen at the top of the site where it is still quite open and free from trees and bushes, although covered in bracken.

 For nearly two decades the site was left to nature with little intervention but in 2015 the Society’s committee decided to consider better ways of managing it.  A survey by Kent Wildlife Trust was commissioned which gave valuable advice on how to proceed with work that would maximise its potential to promote biodiversity.  Amongst the report’s many observations, it stated that the area was an ideal habitat for dormice, reptiles, amphibians and bats.  Bluebells and brambles were recorded but with sensitive clearance of invasive species such as holly, sycamore, rhododendron and willow, more light would reach the ground and this could encourage much rarer wildflowers to emerge from the seedbank in the soil.  The survey’s author stressed that all dead wood and the many fallen trees should be left untouched as they provide an excellent habitat for insects and fungi.

In the winter of 2017/18 in collaboration with Kent High Weald Partnership, conservation work began with parties of volunteers who spent two sessions clearing and burning the undergrowth.  In the late summer of 2018, work to eliminate the thick bracken commenced, which will hopefully help to restore the area of mixed grassland and meadow at the top of the site.  The Society also intends to build two or three bridges over the stream to make it easier for people to cross over and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of Doctor’s Meadow.

More sessions are planned for the next winter season - look out for information in the Society’s diary of events or check out their website if you’d like to volunteer!

Michael Howes

Former Chairman of the Southborough Society