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A Year in Doddington
From the 1997 Village Appraisal - Report by Chris Mason, 1996

View from the plum orchard. Spring 1997.

ALPHA MASON

When describing the wildlife calendar, many would start in the spring, with the violets, anemones, primroses and bluebells which are so typical of the local woodlands and coppices when summer is not far away.
To me, however, the year starts when I suddenly observe, one morning, that the house-martins are no longer reeling outside my window. Conspicuous all summer, with their aerobatics and burbling chatter, their absence means that winter is only a breath away - even though crickets can still be heard in the hedgerows at night and the trees are laden with their harvest of acorns, chestnuts, ash-keys and conkers.

October is when summer finally winds down and the return of Greenwich Mean Time accentuates the feeling of hibernation. Sometimes autumn can seem to last for a long time - until suddenly, with the force of gales and the occasional thunder-storm, the trees are bare. The loss of leaves, however, reveals the various perennial plants and resident animals that have been obscured, the rest of the year, by the glorious growth of green. Hares can no longer hide amongst the wheat and oil-seed rape; virtually every journey - at any time of day - over the wide expanses of farmland will be interrupted by the dash of this beautiful animal. If you can see where he or she has been resting, usually a shallow depression in the ground, you'll be able to feel the warmth of the earth from their long wait. Apart from other well-known mammals such as rabbits, hedgehogs, foxes, moles and badgers, it is worth keeping an eye out for stoats and weasels - both common, but elusive, within the parish.

Sheep on top of Church Hill. February 1991.

ALPHA MASON

Winter also brings visitors; redwings and fieldfares are examples, feeding in flocks. The latter can often be sighted on lonely farmland, identified by their 'chack-chack' and 'week' calls - and the fact that they invariably manage to fly out of sight before you can raise your binoculars!

Walking in early winter, almost from the day the clocks go back, the loss of the skylark's voice is noticeable. I cannot wait to hear their wonderful songs again when they start in January.

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However, even in early January, signs that the days are lengthening can be found in the splashes of white snowdrops, common along the hedgerows and in parkland, especially in the churchyard and Doddington Place park. In February, on sunny days, with sharp eyes you can see lone honey bees and the occasional Red Admiral butterfly, disturbed from a winter's slumber; soon, every pond will be full of common frogs and, at Doddington Place, toads preparing for their annual, mass mating.

In spring, amongst the familiar flowers, look out for the more unusual plants such as the Early Purple orchid or Butcher's Broom, conspicuous by its deep-toned evergreen foliage - a member of the lily family. Dog's Mercury, an excellent indicator of ancient coppice land-use, is in full flower at this time of year. It is often overlooked, due to its drab, dark green appearance and unostentatious flowers - but it is an important characteristic of the woodland in our parish. Before the leaves of the trees hide their showy brilliance, mistletoe clumps high above the ground prompt a last memory of winter, becoming hazy amidst the opulence of spring.

The beginning of summer - to me when I hear the first cuckoo or spy the first housemartin returning home - soon comes, and with it the accelerated growth of all kinds of plants. This is a good time to spot walnut trees - whose fruit in the Autumn offers taste-sensations far superior to the shop-bought alternative - because the leaves, compared to the wonderful spring greens of the oak or the beech, seem almost brown in colour. To see wild orchids - and Kent has the highest number of varieties of all the counties in Great Britain - don't leave it too late. By June, if the season starts early, many species are beginning to go over; Common Spotted orchids may just be brown stumps amidst a sea of seeded Bluebell.

This is also the right time to seek another Doddington rarity: the glow worm. The female of this amazing beetle - not a worm at all - tries to attract a mate, on balmy nights, by using a flourescent substance, luciferin, that is found in the lower body segments. Found in only a few sites, it is increasingly imperative that the habitats of these creatures are not disrupted. If you happen to come across them in your garden, try to keep it as it is; the females are flightless, so if they are prevented from breeding where they are seen it is very unlikely that they will migrate and be successful elsewhere.

High summer and the lushness of vegetation on southern chalky slopes can give way, during dry spells, to parched ground cover. Flora and fauna, however, can be at its most abundant. Hedgerows and gardens are full of butterflies - Red Admiral, Brimstone, Gatekeeper, Cabbage White, Holly Blue, Meadow Brown and Painted Lady - can be seen on one Buddleia bush. Although a large percentage of the parish pastures have been 'improved', reducing the cover of herb plants upon which many species of butterfly rely, there are still areas of interest. The last patch of unimproved sheep grazing, now a newly-planted coppice at Dully Wood, is worth visiting if you want to see the types of plants which would once have been common all over the Downs. The tiny blue flowers of the Centaury mingle with Rockrose, Salad Burnet, Marjoram, Mouse-Ear Hawkweed and St. John's Wort; they are frequently visited by moths and butterflies.

View across Doddington's only remaining area of unimproved grassland. Spring 1997

ALPHA MASON

On areas of set-aside close to the village other interesting plants can be discovered: Fox and Cubs, clumps of Tormentil and even the uncommon, parasitic Broomrape - the list is long and changeable year by year. The grounds of Doddington Place are another area worth investigating for plants; recently designated free from the use of chemical addition, the recolonising of formerly unknown species could occur.

In July and August, the familiar sight of poppy fields can be overwhelming - but they share the available bare ground with less conspicuous annuals; Melancholy Thistle, Fumitory, Field Pansy, Scarlet Pimpernel and Hedge Mustard, for example, mix, in rape fields, with the deep green, coarse grasses growing along the tracks.

For some, summer turns to autumn too soon; the return of the cricket's song - endless and characteristic of the season, like that of the skylark - is a harbinger of the cold, unsettled weather ahead. Although most plants have flowered, there are some that come into their own in these last weeks of summer. A particular rarity is the Violet Helleborine, sometimes found in Sharsted Woods. For fungi forays, it is only a short wait until October when many delights can be found in these woods and elsewhere.

So one day, as the year turns full circle, the absence of the martins' chatter is suddenly observed; the realisation of shortening days and subdued dawn chorus comes upon us. Walks turn into muddy forages for mushrooms, Cob-nuts and Sweet Chestnuts, grown extensively in Doddington for coppice.

Chris Mason, 1996

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