The Downland Project has worked over the years to restore the Chalk Pit and the ancient hollow way, Rubble Pit Lane. The next step was to connect this area with our other hollow way, Cow Lane, and the small woods on Churn Hill.
We started in 2017 by applying for a free pack of 100 tree saplings from the Woodland Trust. A work party planted them around a small triangle of land next to the Chalk Pit (see first two photos below). This is the start of a connection from the Chalk Pit and Rubble Pit Lane to what’s left of the hedge leading up to Churn Hill. They are all common woodland trees (hawthorn, hazel, dogwood, wild cherry and silver birch) – we appreciate them for their flowers and fruit, their colours and their scent, but together they provide the means of life for countless insects and other animals, including fruit and nuts. In the winter of 2017-18 Beeswax Farming planted new hedge to fill in the gaps in old hedges from the Chalk Pit up to Churn Hill and then along to the path towards Cow Lane (third and fourth photos below).
We hope that eventually this will be continued all the way across to Woodway. In winter 2019–20 the trees near the Chalk Pit were given added protection against deer and some new ones planted. And in March over a hundred trees and bushes from the Woodland Trust were used to fill in some of the gaps in the hedging planted by Beeswax, caused by some of the bushes dying during two very dry summers. If you would like to help with this, please contact John Ogden.
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