Another plant that tolerates footfall but is less obvious is the buck’s horn plantain, Plantago coronopus, which occurs at the top of the slope leading to the former football field, where it enjoys thin dry gravelly conditions. The downy leaves are usually divided, resembling stags’ antlers. Coronopus is Greek for crow’s foot. They grow in a low rosette and are edible, crunchy and tasting of spinach. A nice foil for the vinegary leaves of the dwarf sheeps’ sorrel, Rumex acetosella, that covers the nearby slopes with a haze of rusty flowers in early summer. This plantain produces dense spikes to 7 cm of tiny flowers from May to July, the protruding yellow anthers giving it a fluffy appearance, the whole plant resembling a tiny baroque candelabra. It has also adapted to roadsides where salt accumulates. All plantains are important sources of pollen and/or food plants for caterpillars of butterflies and moths; they make a good addition to wildlife-friendly gardens. Hoary plaintain, Plantago media, has fragrant flowers and plantain leaves are good for nettle stings.
The ling is a food plant for the hairy caterpillars of the oak eggar moth, whose caterpillars then shelter in the leaf litter below through winter. The eggs, caterpillars and pupae of many insects and butterflies and moths are now hidden everywhere, on undersides of leaves, on grass stems, in cracks in bark, in ground litter, here and in gardens. Leaving some areas of the garden untidy will protect the next generations of our endangered insect and butterfly populations.
Meanwhile, ticks are still active, hanging off grass stems or bracken in those shoulder-high tunnels to catch onto whatever is walking past. So keep to open paths and remember to check dogs and yourselves. The NHS website has information on safe tick removal.
Please shut the pedestrian gates that you use. Please keep dogs close to you at all times, let’s give our ground nesting birds a chance, do not let your dog run and play off the paths and through the areas of heather and gorse. Don’t forget to take poo bags to the bins at the entrances.
Ian Rickards, Area Manager
Ashford Area Warden Will Glasson reflects on his first full year working across the local sites in this blog, co-written with long-time volunteer Margery Thomas.
Volunteer, Margery Thomas, explores winter on Hothfield Heathlands - one of Kent's last four valley bogs and one of its few remaining fragments of open heath.
Long-time volunteer, Margery Thomas, talks us through all the exciting fungi at Hothfield Heathlands and their importance.
