Habitats

Although once widespread, Kent’s unimproved acid grasslands are now a rare and highly fragmented habitat. Most have been lost to agricultural intensification, forestry, development, and poor management. In recognition of their rarity, and the fact that the creation of new acid grassland is ecologically unachievable, they have been categorised as a priority habitat, both nationally and regionally.

Lowland acid grassland is typically an open habitat with low-growing plant communities that are able to survive acid soils and water-stressed conditions. The swards contain a diversity of fine-leaved grasses, as well as specialist broad-leaved plants. Very dry areas that are devoid of vegetation can support a range of bryophytes (mosses) or lichens. Acid grassland provides the habitat for a diverse range of invertebrates that can tolerate the dry, acidic conditions. These include ground-nesting solitary bees, such as the green-eyed flower bee, and their predator, the ornate-tailed digger wasp. Another common species is the beautiful small copper butterfly whose caterpillars feed on the sheep’s sorrel which grows all across the acid grassland plateau.

Old Park is one of the three largest remaining acid grassland sites in Kent. The other two large sites are Knowle Park near Sevenoaks and Hatch Park near Ashford. The extent of acid grassland on Old Park was one of the main reasons for its classification as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1968.

Characteristic plant species of the acid grassland on Old Park include sheep’s sorrel, heath bedstraw, birds-foot and early hair-grass, all of which are widespread across the central plateau. Some of the many interesting plants growing on Old Park’s dry, sandy soils include small clovers such as birds-foot and clustered (growing in the shortest grassland), changing forget-me-not, mossy stonecrop, harebell and narrow-leaved vetch. An unusual inland population of clove-scented broomrape also exists.

Clustered Clover (Kent Rare Plant Register)

Narrow-leaved Vetch

Clove-scented Broomrape (Kent Rare Plant Register)

Alongside acid grassland and ancient woodland, scrub was one of the distinct habitat types highlighted in the decision to designate Old Park & Chequers Wood as a Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI citation). The close proximity between the three habitat types provides an unusual and valuable habitat mosaic.

Scrub is a successional habitat that is in transition from one habitat type to another. In Old Park, it is in transition from acid grassland to secondary woodland. As such, it needs careful management to prevent it from encroaching excessively onto the acid grassland or from developing into woodland and losing the benefits for wildlife that scrub provides.

Scrub is a habitat on which many species depend for their survival. It can support a great variety of species by providing food, shelter, breeding, and roosting sites. Old Park’s scrub is dominated by gorse which forms a sea of yellow flowers from January through to June. These provide nectar for insects at the coldest point in the year.

Notable plants associated with the scrub include the scarce greater broomrape, which is mentioned in the citation for the SSSI but has not been seen for many years. Another is heath groundsel.

Birds

Scrub provides impenetrable thickets for nesting birds. It is especially important for nightingales that nest on the ground and whose nests would otherwise be vulnerable to disturbance and predation by larger mammals and birds.

Nightingale numbers have declined significantly in recent years and they are now on the Red list of birds of conservation concern. Old Park has one of the highest densities of breeding nightingales in the UK, with 45 nightingale territories recorded in 2023. This is largely due to the damp scrub habitat which the site provides. The map of nightingale habitats below shows that nightingale territories are not restricted to the boundaries of the SSSI, but are found across the site.

There are many other bird species which use the gorse, bramble, and hawthorn scrub on Old Park for feeding, nesting, and shelter. These include red-listed species such as turtle doves and linnet, and other birds such as stonechat, blackcap, chiffchaff, and garden warbler.

Turtle Dove on Old Park

Reptiles and Amphibians

The physical structure of scrub and the surrounding habitat provide good conditions for reptiles. As reptiles regulate their body temperature by using the external environment, sheltered patches surrounded by scrub can provide sunny places in which reptiles can warm up, while at the same time giving cover from predatory birds and mammals.

Scrub habitat also provides reptiles with good hunting grounds for prey such as invertebrates, molluscs, and small mammals. Reptiles regularly found in the scrub in Old Park include slow worms, common lizards, and grass snakes (all of which are in serious decline elsewhere). Amphibians such as toads are also often found in sheltered spots among the scrub where they hunt invertebrates by night.

Mammals

Many species of small mammal benefit from the presence of scrub as it provides both shelter and food. Temperatures within gorse thicket can remain above freezing during cold winter spells, providing a micro-climate in which wildlife (particularly small mammals which are especially vulnerable to the cold) can survive.

Invertebrates

Many types of invertebrate use gorse scrub, including bees, spiders, and moths. Grassy areas and bare ground in and around the scrub also provide shelter, food sources, overwintering habitat, and nesting sites for many species.

At the point where National Cycle Route 1 leaves Old Park’s wet woodland in the direction of Fordwich, it enters an area of flood meadows and ditches next to the Great Stour river. This area is classified as ‘lowland neutral grassland meadow’. A large part of the area floods when the river rises above its banks during periods of prolonged rainfall. This helps alleviate flooding downstream in Fordwich.

The area contains a diverse range of grasses, including meadow fescue and meadow foxtail. Much of it is still used for hay-making. Colour is provided by meadow buttercup, common sorrel, and patches of cuckoo flower. The ditches are dominated by bullrushes and reeds, and contain water plantain and purple loosestrife. The meadows and ditches support a rich insect community, while the rougher areas along the field edges provide excellent nesting sites for small mammals such as field voles and harvest mice.

The ideal management regime for water meadows is for a hay cut to be taken in early summer and for cattle to graze the aftermath or re-growth in late summer. This is an important priority habitat which is under threat from agricultural intensification.