Shaw by Lower Stapple Gate Field, Itchingfield

After work I paid Itchingfield a visit and ground conditions in nearly a week had improved somewhat. It was actually possible to get to the far side of the field here without getting bogged down!

This view is looking SW through a small narrow strip of woodland. The shafts of light from the sun lit the emerging bluebell leaves in lines across the floor of the wood. Locally, these small thin woods which are remnats of much larger areas of woodland left when the trees were cleared in early medieval times for agriculture, are known as a Shaw. In different parts of England, you'll find all sorts of interesting names for woods like this and larger ones. In Sussex and Eastern Hampshire, a Row is the same kind of small wood, but a Hanger usually refers to an area of wood that covers a deep valley with a stream running through it, or a steep hillside. One of my favourite names is Spring, a name for a small wood found in Essex and Hertfordshire. Areas further north east tend to have rather less natural woodland than down here and many areas of wood were planted for use as cover for game birds and for fox hunting. These are known as a Covert and there are many in counties such as Leicestershire and on the non fenland parts of Lincolnshire for example.