Bewyched
Elm-
Further treasures of
Hadleigh
Country
Park
This is the fifth in the series of the further
treasures of Hadleigh
Country
Park. You are looking
for a small container.
Hadleigh
Country Park
gets its name from
Hadleigh
Castle. It lies
between South
Benfleet, to the West, and Leigh, to the
East. The park consists
of a mix of scrub, woodland and grassland hillside running down to
grazing marsh and seawall, which is adjacent to a narrow strip of
salt marsh. This wide
range of habitat provides many places for plants and animals to
live. In summer this is one of the best places in
Essex to see
butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies.
The rangers tell me that the best place to park
is in the main car-park (N 51°
33.1310
E00° 35.7245 ),
however, this is £2 for the
day.
(check times as varies throughout the
year. )
. See the new
Hadleigh
Country Park
website at:-www.hadleighcountrypark.co.uk
Wych elm is a deciduous tree growing up to 40 m
in height. It often
branches near the base forming a dome-shaped
crown. The bark starts
out quite smooth and grey but becomes more brown and cracked in
older trees. The leaves are very rough and one side of the base is
longer than the other, the longer side actually covers the short
leaf stalk. It has red flowers during early spring which set as
winged seeds even before the leaves are fully opened. The tree
takes approximately 30 years before seeds are produced and then
every 2 or 3 years. In
the wild, seeds germinate shortly after falling.
Wych Elm is less prone to attack by Dutch elm
disease than other elms, so that large trees may still be seen. It
does not sucker from the roots, and any seedlings are often
consumed by uncontrolled deer populations, regeneration is very
restricted, limited to sprouts from the stumps of young trees. The
resultant decline has been extreme and the Wych Elm is now uncommon
over much of its former range.
It is native in damp woods, hedges and along
streams. The wood is very durable in wet
conditions. It is used
for groynes and harbour works and was once used to make underground
water pipes and a favourite timber of
coffin-makers.