My walk through West Dean Woods yesterday was the most idyllic I can really ever remember. It was pretty cold with a strong wind but the sun was shining. Every so often a flurry of snowy-like hail passed over reminding me that winter was still snapping at my heels! Also it felt as though the world has almost come to a standstill – everywhere so calm and peaceful. For almost an hour I met no one – then three horses emerged out of the trees being led by the halter – old fashioned heavy ones with huge feathery feet.
The first new wild flowers I saw were wood anemones. Just one to start with and I thought – how lucky I am and then around the corner there were swathes of them all along the sides of the path under the trees. They were so pretty nodding in the wind – living up to their local Downs name of ‘windflower’.
The anemone is a good indicator of ancient woodland as they spread only by root growth – as Richard Mabey describes ‘at no more than six feet each hundred years’.
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