grazing activities in the nineteenth century. Although small in size they are still referred
to as plains with picturesque names such as 'Daisy' and 'Jericho'. The flora of these
grasslands today include 'heathy' species such as sheeps sorrel (Rumex acetosella).
heath bedstraw (Galium saxatile) and heath grass (Sieglingia decumbens).
(3) Burnt and Disturbed Area
Lords Bushes, prior to 1976, was for the most part mature deciduous woodland
dominated by beech with a virtually non-existent ground flora. The summer of 1976
proved to be the driest within living memory and drought conditions prevailed over
much of England and Wales. These conditions brought about a fundamental change to
the ecology of Lords Bushes.
A conspicuous feature of the soil profile is a relatively deep layer of leaf litter which
in the normal course of events maintains a degree of moisture. This dried out in 1976 to
such an extent that a fire would burn through the leaf litter, smouldering for days on
end, occasionally bursting into flames and necessitating the attendance (often in shifts
for days at a time) of the fire services, who did much good work in keeping the fires away
from the surrounding houses. The dry conditions and smouldering leaf-litter affected
the trees by creating a soil-moisture deficit and a number of trees lost their leaves. The
smouldering leaf litter also burnt through the roots of the trees, in particular those of the
beech, and thus caused the death of many trees. When dead beech trees, because of their
shallow root system, (and compounded by the fact that old disused pollards tend to be
top heavy) are very unstable in conditions of high wind. For safety reasons, because
Lords Bushes is used as a public recreation area, the dead trees were felled using chain
saws and heavy tracked vehicles, leaving a vast disturbed cleared area devoid of
vegetation which I now refer to as 'the burnt and disturbed area' and it is the flora that
has appeared on this site (Plate 2) that is discussed below. I censused the dead trees and
stumps in January 1979 and found that the following trees had been killed and/or felled:
BEECH OAK HORNBEAM BIRCH HOLLY
165 52 33 36 484
These figures are probably an underestimate as many trees and stumps were burnt or
removed. Of the felled trees, the following numbers were recorded as producing
regrowth from the cut stool. In particular the remarkable regeneration powers of holly
are of note.
BEECH OAK HORNBEAM BIRCH HOLLY
6 12 8 14 454
The flora that has appeared on the burnt and disturbed area can be divided into
four main sections though there is of course overlap with some species:
WEED SPECIES. Obviously with any recently cleared area there is initially no com-
petition for space, light or nutrients and such an area is readily exploited by what are
traditionally considered to be weed species. The burnt and disturbed area of Lords
Bushes is no exception and has been colonised by a great many weeds. The Com-
positae, including species such as creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense), coltsfoot
(Tussilago farfara) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) all with wind blown seeds, are
well represented on this area: likewise the willow-herbs, in particular fireweed
(Epilobium angustifolium), masters in the art of colonising waste ground. A number of
species are ephemerals, including petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus) and groundsel
(Senecio vulgaris), which have the ability to exploit rapidly an open waste area in its
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