Nature Trail

This is a self-guided circular walk for our Hayle Park site. There are no steps on this route, which goes outside the inner field. It will give you some information about the reserve and the nature you will encounter here. This trail was written for our open day August 2022, but can be completed in your own time.

Some of the points are seasonal.

Enter through the main entrance gate. The starting point is the oak tree you can see ahead.

1. The circumference of the trunk increases 1.88cm a year. If you measure the circumference (in cm) of the tree and divide by 1.88, it will give you an idea of how old this tree is. This oak tree has a circumference of 200cm. Therefore, it is approximately 106 years old. Look out for other oak trees on the walk. You will notice them by the distinctive leaf shape and acorns.

Follow the path round to the left - keeping outside of the inner field.

2. To the left hand side you might still see some elderberries and blackberries.

3. As you keep following the path round, you come to an area of long grass. You may be lucky enough to see slow worms here! Slow worms are in fact legless lizards and are found on our reserve. You can watch a video about them here.

Follow path round to the right.

4. In front of you now you can see Hayle Place, which is a mid 18th century Grade II listed private residence. There has been a residence here since Domesday records. Historically, the nature reserve and surrounding land would have formed part of the Hayle Place estate. This is the reason you will see tree species that are more common to parks as the reserve formed part of the extended gardens of Hayle Place.

5. As you continue on the path and look back across the field, you will see that we have started to reinstate an avenue of trees. This avenue was originally part of the Hayle Place estate and was planted with horse chestnut. We have replaced with walnut and orange twig lime trees. Our volunteers have been looking after these trees and regularly watering them during the dry weather.

6. The large Scots Pine tree to the left, is not native to Kent. There are other examples of this tree on the reserve, but in our opinion this is the most impressive! These would have been planted by the Hayle Place estate.

As the path splits, take the left hand fork.

7. Listen carefully, the brambles are home to rabbits, birds and small mammals. There are lots of rabbits on the reserve and you can often spot them out during quiet parts of the day.

Continue straight on.

8. Look down by the log. What has been digging here do you think?

Badgers! At the last count we have 7 badger setts living on the reserve. These are nocturnal creatures and can be spotted on the reserve at night. During the day you can often spot signs of their activity. Badgers are the UK's largest land predator and the only predator of the hedgehog.

Follow the path round to the right and then stay to the left.

9. This oak tree is much older than the one at the beginning. At around 250 years old, it is one of the oldest trees on the reserve. If you look closely, you can see that it has lost some of it's branches.

10. In front you can see a monolith tree. This technique removes all of the branches of a dead or dying tree. This tree was a pink horse chestnut that had reached the end of it's life cycle. Rather than cut down the tree, in was turned into a monolith 5 years ago. This provides a diverse habitat for an array of species.

11. If you stop to look across into the distance to your left and enjoy the views, you may spot the Giant Redwood tree in the distance.

Continue straight on.

12. As you continue on the path, there is an ash tree to the left with ash dieback. This is a fungal disease. The woodland trust estimates it will kill 80% of ash trees in the UK. It has had the biggest impact in south-east England.

Take the path to the right.

13. As you walk through, take a moment to pause and listen. There are often birds and squirrels here.

Follow the path up towards the gate and then turn left. Continue along the path, and take the left path at the fork.

14. As you continue along this path, keep an eye out for the turkey's tail fungus.

15. The large tree to your left is a common lime tree. Our work party re-routed the path to alleviate strain on the roots and prevent damage to the tree.

Take the first path to the right.

16. Continue along this path. If you keep looking up, you may spot some bird boxes. Many of these were built by families during lockdown. The trust provided kits to people and then put them up around the reserve.

Continue straight on, past the notice board and continue straight.

17. Continue along this path and you will see another monolith tree up ahead. This tree was a turkey oak, a species that was introduced to the UK in the 1700s.

18. As you continue along the path, you will notice log piles to the left and beyond that a fence line. Foxes are very common around the reserve. There is a den just beyond the fence, who are often seen out and about even during the day. These pictures are from around the reserve.

19. As you walk along the path you will see an oak tree that has had the old ivy cut. This makes a fantastic habitat for insects and bats will hibernate underneath the dead ivy. Grey squirrels love this area. If you stand still for a minute you will often hear and see them running around in the branches.

20. Just ahead you will see a large horse chestnut tree. There are two bat boxes, which were built by students at Bower Grove School. If you look closely you may notice stain marks from the bats' excrement. If you visit the reserve at dusk, you will see the bats feeding on the insects. We hold bat walks twice a year. One of our guests recorded a video of the experience.

This tree has lost two large branches in the past 3 years. One you can still see on the floor, the other has been removed.

Conkers will be falling soon and this is one of the best spots in the

reserve to come and collect them. Conkers have lots of uses - including for making soap!

Continue straight on.

21. You will see the back of the barn to the left. The barn was officially opened in October 2018 and has proved a valuable resource to the trust and volunteers. Can you spot the integrated bat and bird boxes that are part of the design?

At end of the path turn left to go back to the main entrance. You have completed our nature trail! We hope you enjoyed it.