Jubilee Nature Trail
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Jubilee Park Local Nature Reserve Chislehurst Rd Station k How to Get There.. ar y P el 162 k Jubilee Bi c 269 Jubilee Country Park can be reached using the following bus routes: Nature Trail R2 (Mon-Sat) Petts Wood Stn to Biggin Hill Valley via Orpington T o R3 Chelsfield to Locksbottom via Orpington and C Bickley T H h O is Petts Wood Stn. R le N E h T ur D W OLDFIELD R O s O t T o E R7 (Mon-Sat) Orpington to Bickley via Petts Wood CP D E N E R r N D B T N P Stn, Southborough Lane and Blackbrook Lane A ic CP E A L k G L l e L D y A K N N 162 Beckenham Jctn to Eltham via Bromley, O W E E O O H O Bickley, Chislehurst and New Eltham R Jubilee Country Park D T B CP L R K Local Nature Reserve A CO N D A N 208/N47 Orpington to Lewisham via Petts Wood Stn., L W B DRIVE A Bromley and Catford EW Y I V T S 208 E R ORO N47 C 269 Bromley to Bexleyheath via Chislehurst, SOUTHB UGH VE LA D A R2 NE OO S W Sidcup and Bexley NK FRA Q Southborough U E E 273 Petts Wood Stn. to Lewisham via Chislehurst, N S Petts Wood W Grove Park, Lee and Hither Green R3 A Station Y R3 T o Trains: Nearest Stations: Petts Wood, Bickley and O Petts Wood r Chislehurst p in g t o n Correct at time of going to press. Latest information from Traveline: 020 7222 1234 With thanks to Andy Purcell/CEC for use of weasel and common shrew images. If you are interested in Jubilee Country Park and would like to become more involved, there is a Friends of Jubilee Park Group. For details about this and for up-to-date information about Bromley’s countryside, including accessibility and nature trails, contact Bromley Countryside Service on 01689 862815, e-mail countrysideandparks@ bromley.gov.uk or see www.bromleybiodiversity.co.uk EMERGENCY PHONE: 020 8464 4848 A Wildspace Project supported by English Nature The Wildspace Project Promotes Local Nature Reserves for Local People. and the New Opportunities Fund THE GREAT VARIETY OF MINIBEASTS PROVIDE FOOD What to see in Jubilee Park FOR BIRDS, AMPHIBIANS AND SMALL MAMMALS Jubilee Country Park is part of a wildlife corridor linking to open countryside via Petts Wood and Scadbury Park along the London Loop. Its 62 acres of wildflower meadows, hedgerows and A B C semi-natural ancient woodland contain remnants of an ancient farmed landscape once common, but now rare. Look for some of IN SUMMER SEE HOW MANY BUTTERFLIES the many plants and animals which have become uncommon in AND MOTHS YOU CAN SPOT the countryside. Some you will be able to see on the way around Butterflies fly in daytime and favour brightly the nature trail indicated by posts, (tick the circles). Others may be coloured flowers; many moths are nocturnal G H anywhere in the park and are shown in some of the pictures and are attracted by pale, scented flowers. opposite. How many can you spot? Most adults of both drink nectar from a variety G Bluetits nest in tree holes and bird boxes; egg laying is timed so Score:10-20 whacky weasel, 20-30 D of flowers, but often the caterpillars only eat there are plenty of caterpillars and grubs for the growing chicks- as knowledgeable newt, over 30 awesome owl one type of plant. the chicks get bigger, adults may bring grubs and caterpillars back to the nest 600 times per day A Swallow-Tailed Moth: caterpillar camouflaged as a twig to hide from Looking Back to the Past predators lives on elder, hawthorn and blackthorn and hibernates during H Nuthatches use their chisel-like beaks to prise insects from tree bark or open acorns wedged into crevices. Land at Jubilee Park is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of winter. 1086 when it belonged to the Bishop of Rochester. Thornet Wood B Small Copper Butterfly: caterpillars eat dock and common sorrel I Newts breed in the ponds but spend most of their lives away from is referred to in early documents and the right to fell timber here water hunting invertebrates and hiding under logs and stones. was kept by the Bishops until 1845. From 1250-1400 the area was C Common Blue Butterfly (male): female is brown, caterpillars eat bird's Common Shrews have to eat every 2-3 hours and need to eat associated with a family called Blackbrook and by the 16th foot trefoil. J 70% of their own body weight in minibeasts every 24 hours. Their century some of Jubilee was pasture for sheep and cattle. In 1780 Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly on Fleabane: caterpillars eat young nettle hearts beat 900-1000 times/minute, but they only live for about a Bickley Hall was built nearby for the Wells family, wealthy D leaves growing in a sunny position. Look for butterflies hibernating in your year. shipbuilders from Deptford who rented and sublet fields at shed during winter. Jubilee for arable or pasture until John Wells was declared K Weasels hunt for mice and voles. bankrupt in 1841. In 1916 the developer who built the Bickley Park Estate turned land here into a golf course but the clubhouse IN WINTER LOOK FOR FUNGI, MOSSES AND LICHENS was bombed in 1940. The NE of the park was an army base in World War II, with anti-aircraft guns. Afterwards the land was let for grazing until it was bought in 1977 by Bromley Council, J named to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, E and opened to the public in 1981. LOOK AND LISTEN FOR BUSH F CRICKETS AND GRASSHOPPERS How to get around Young hatch in April/May from eggs laid the previous autumn. They look like The Jubilee Trail is marked by 15 numbered posts, banded in adults, but can't fly. They grow and shed their skins several times before K yellow (see inside leaflet). It is about 2mls (3km) long and the becoming mature. Adult males attract females with chirping song in summer. underlying London clay means it is sometimes very muddy but at Sometimes eaten by birds or small mammals. Live for about 5 months. other times the soil dries forming deep cracks. There are gates, Crickets differ from grasshoppers in many ways which include having long steps and though the park is fairly flat there are some short antennae and eating soft-bodied minibeasts as well as plants. gradients over 10% (1:10) as shown overleaf. Please follow the Roesel's Cricket Country Code, keep to the footpaths and remove your dog waste. E Cycling is allowed on cycle track only, horse riding only on the F Meadow Grasshopper-feeds on grass bridleway. Fishing is not allowed. Bromley Parks and Open Spaces There are at least 28 species of grass growing in Jubilee Country Park. How many By-laws apply. can you see? (one mark per grass) I Trail T ature More light reaches the woodland he Jubilee N floor where the paths meet so 4 there are many wildflowers here in summer. Look for field rose and T As you start the Nature Trail notice the goat willow and aspen to H O gatekeeper butterflies drinking from R your left. In spring both have male and female catkins on different N E T nectar-rich blackberry flowers. Hedge trees, but aspen is wind pollinated while the nectar of goat willow W O O woundwort borders the right of the attracts insects early in spring. Aspen’s flattened leaf stalks cause D Gatekeeper R O path as you go into the woodland. Its Butterfly its leaves to flutter A D leaves were used as a poultice applied when the wind blows. BROMLEY HIGH SCHOOL to wounds and contain a volatile oil with antiseptic properties. Hedge Woundwort Field Rose Gradient 13% (1:8) R A IL You are now in Thornet Wood. W A Y This semi-natural ancient 5 L Gradient 14% (1:7) IN woodland is dominated by Left: Goat Willow leaves E oak trees: the 2 native species and Far left: female catkins 3 Above: male catkins hybrids between them. English oak 8 THORNET WOOD 2 has long-stalked acorns, stalkless 4 leaves; sessile oak, has acorns with 6 steps 6 no stalks and long-stalked leaves. E 7 Look for ancient woodland AN indicator species such as L 5 K 14 15 bluebells, wood anemones O 9 Gradient 11% (1:9) O 1 and early dog violets which R SOUTHBOROUGH B 10 K STABLES flower before the leaves C T A E grow on the trees and L Gradient 15% (1:6) N B T P shade them. Ground Right: Aspen leaf E G = Gate beetles hunt in the Left: female catkins L 11 A Above: male catkins N N E leaf litter. This area was used as allotments from the IVE 13 DR S EW 1940s -1971 and the woodland around you OU VI 1 TH EST B R has developed since. The taller trees are OR C OU ST. JAMES R.C. Ground Beetle GH early colonizers e.g. silver birch which only live for LA PRIMARY SCHOOL NE about 60years. Look for longer-lived trees such as 12 English Oak oak and beech which are now quite small but will eventually dominate this woodland.