Oaken Wood
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| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
| Location | Kent |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TQ 701 548[1] |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 18.7 hectares (46 acres)[1] |
| Notification | 1985[1] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Oaken Wood is a 18.7-hectare (46-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Maidstone in Kent.[1][2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site.[3]
Known locally as "Barming Wood" due to the village of Barming being the closest settlement to Oaken Woods,[4] it is an ancient woodland with orchids, dormice, tawny owls, nightingales and many species of bat (alongside various other species).[5]
This site provides the best example of a very unusual topography, with cracking and tilting of underlying weaker strata during the Pleistocene by periglacial processes producing crests and troughs in the surface rocks.[6]
A public footpath crosses the site.
In 2013, plans to uproot parts or all of Oaken Wood for a ragstone quarry were met with controversy due to its environmental importance (with various different species residing there) and its possibility in setting a legal precedent for up to 300 other ancient woodlands in the UK.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Designated Sites View: Oaken Wood". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ "Map of Oaken Wood". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ "Oaken Wood (Quaternary of South-East England)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ "Barming Woods/Oaken Wood". BusinessYab. 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
- ^ Turner, Camilla (2015-03-27). "Ancient woods face gravest threat for decades, Woodland Trust warns". the telegraph. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
- ^ "Oaken Wood citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ Boffey, Daniel (2013-09-22). "Oaken Wood in Kent to be uprooted as quarry plan gets go ahead". the guardian. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
