Our Mini Wilderness at Knockhatch

Outside of the Birds of Prey Falconry Centre is an area that has purposely been left to become overgrown to encourage "natural plants", (which are often referred to as weeds) and sometimes rare insect life.  With the countryside becoming so manicured and precisely managed, little consideration is given to the reasons why "natural plants" exist.

By leaving "wild" areas, a mini ecosystem can be encouraged to develop.  This in turn, encourages numerous insects and small mammals to move in, which in turn allows wild birds to feed and proliferate, most importantly during the breeding season.

Birds such as Blue Tits, Sparrows and many other, catch obscure insects which form a vital part of the diet, for their growing fledglings and supplemented with bird feeders, allow these youngsters to have the best start in life, before the onset of winter.

You can see how the wild birds co-exists with the predatory birds for safety and ironically, even their feathers are nesting material.  If you keep an eye on the feeders and bird boxes around the centre, you will see quite a lot of activity.

This small area of land is being left to find out how long it will take for the ground to become woodland. Many years ago all this area would have been covered in large trees which were cut down to make more fields for people to grow their food.  In this area the local tree is the Oak and the forests would have been naturally covered by Oak, in some areas the natural tree is Beech, Pine or other indigenous trees.

First the soft weeds take control; these are weeds such as thistles, stinging nettles and docks.  Then come the brambles and wild roses, making an impenetrable barrier to grazing animals and giving the low growing shrubs a chance to grow.  The trees start to grow from seedlings of an acorn and an ash, from the winged seed blown in by the wind which has put down their roots.  There is then a tangle of undergrowth with young trees struggling up towards the light.  In the end the trees make a canopy which cuts out much of the light from the sun.  Now most of the small shrubs will give way to a carpet of bluebells and wood anenomes.  In the area around Knockhatch most of the mature trees are Oak, further up in the Weald you will see Beech trees and Silver Birch.