Coulters Dean

Waterside Natural History Society visit Coulters Dean

The area to the northern edge of Queen Elizabeth Country Park is full of ups and downs. No sooner have you got to the bottom of a down than you have to go up and when you get to the top of an up you have to go down again. This produces quite a challenge for those cyclists and walkers’ going along the South Downs Way but it also provides some delightful side valleys one of which is Coulters Dean. We had to travel about fifty miles to get there and the weather forecast was for heavy showers so we were not too optimistic about our chances of seeing anything. When we arrived at Buriton village we turned right along Kiln Lane to the car park at the top of the hill. From there we walked east along the South Downs Way before branching off into Coulters Dean.
The footpath took us alongside a wooded area which stretched up the hillside but the meadow to our right was what we had come to see. At this time of year the ground is a patchwork of colourful wild flowers and even below the dark threatening clouds the pinks, blues and yellows lit up the meadow. The site which covers a relatively small area is a SSSI managed by Hampshire and IOW wildlife trust which contains some unusual plants but it is their profusion which makes this site special.
The Broad Leaved Helleborine was particularly abundant in the shade of Beech trees along the side of the wood. A Helleborine is a type of orchid although it gets its name by being confused with Hellebore or Christmas Rose; both of which produce leaves up the flower stem. Round Headed Rampion also occurred here in abundance with its dark blue flowers that bring back memories of a small bottle with ‘Quink’ written on the label. The root of Rampion used to be eaten as a vegetable and is still classed as a herb.
Herbs were prolific in the meadow; besides the Rampion there were Marjoram, Thyme and Wild Basil all of which would not be out of place in a kitchen garden. The thyme with its vivid pink flowers covered several of the old ant hills which themselves are a sign of how old the meadow has become. Although the thyme formed a low growing mat the pinkish white flowers of Squinacywort formed an even lower covering. This rather attractively named plant is also a herb and was once used to alleviate the symptoms of Quinsy. Quinsy is an inflammation of the throat around the tonsils which is treated nowadays by antibiotics. Squinancywort, a member of the bedstraw family, has four petals and although the flowers are rather small their effect is increased by their large number.
Members of the Campanula or bell flowers are particularly adapted to the chalk downlands. Besides the Rampion, Clustered Bellflowers and Harebell grow in the meadow with the taller Nettle Bellflower growing at the side of the pathways.
When we eventually walked out of the meadow the sun reappeared from behind the cloud which was a signal for numbers of small white butterflies to appear and flutter like snow just above the ground. Unfortunately the sun did not last very long and the rain came down in earnest as we walked back into the woods. The path through the woods led us up over the hill into the next valley from where we picked up a footpath marked Staunton Way. On arrival at a metalled road we turned left to walk back up to the South downs Way and back to the car park.
Although the weather was mainly rain showers the walk was a pleasant one and worth it for the wild flower display alone which would have won prizes in any flower show.