Victory!

The ancient Blean Wood is behind the young growth and scrub here.

Barriers and ‘Road Closed’ signs gloated across the big roundabout, cutting us off from our intended walk. ‘We could go to Victory Wood’, suggested Mrs Turnstone, so we did.

Trees growing where once was farmland – but before that, for thousands of years, there were trees.

The Woodland Trust began planting Victory Wood in 2005 before many of us had realised how urgently we need to increase our forest cover in England. 2005 is 200 years since the battle of Trafalgar, when Admiral Nelson, on board HMS Victory, defeated the French and Spanish navies. Victory, like all ships of the line in those days, was constructed chiefly from English, even Kentish Oak. There was good money for timber, and landowners did not always replace felled trees.

The sea, in the background here, transported thousands of oaks to Chatham Naval Yards from this site.

Much of the land we walked today had been cleared for agriculture post 1945, but 60 years later it was being returned to its natural state, a process that continues as staff and volunteers monitor the growth of different species.

A ladybird was basking in the November sunshine.

And a pretty crab apple caught the eye.