Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.

Reflections on Strawberry Hill by Reserves/Conservation Officer Chantelle Warriner.

In the northern reaches of our county, just before we hop over the border into Northamptonshire, lies a very special site. A site that has been left undisturbed, allowed to evolve and grow for the last thirty years. Strawberry Hill, a 150 hectare ex-arable farm, has been gradually re-wilding since it was taken out of production in 1988. Where there were once ploughed fields, a dense mass of scrub, dominated by hawthorn and blackthorn, has erupted. A scattering of mighty oaks tower over the scrub, a window into the site’s agricultural past. Dare to venture into the mass of scrub, and you will find that pockets of tussocky grassland and lost ponds cling on, forming a rich mosaic of hidden habitats.

With the help of some very generous lenders, including the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Julie Davies, founder of ‘We have the Power’, The Wildlife Trust BCN is now the proud custodian of this special site. It is our vision that Strawberry Hill will become a hub from which we can deliver many of our charitable aims. A place where we can protect a unique habitat rich in species, while also delivering high class visitor engagement, enabling more people than ever before to get closer to nature in our county.

Upon initial inspection, Strawberry Hill may appear to be acre after acre of dense scrub. And well, you’re not wrong! Perhaps Strawberry Hill isn’t as magnificent as a 400 year old ancient woodland, with its carpets of bluebells in spring. Or as picturesque as a chalk grassland wildflower meadow, with its clouds or butterflies in summer. But, I challenge you to take a closer look. And what you will find is a habitat brimming with life. Trail cameras deployed around the site, have already captured numerous images of fine foxes, bashful badgers and rambunctious roe deer.

We already know that the lost ponds are home to the rare and protected great crested newt. Harvest mice duck for cover in their tennis ball shaped woven nests while barn owls silently soar over the grassland that surrounds the historic farmhouse. Local naturalists were quick to recognise the site’s potential for supporting diverse bird populations, which are known to include numerous and consistent records of red and amber listed birds, such as the nightingale, turtle dove, and grasshopper warbler.

For a site that it still in its ecological infancy, I would say that those credentials are pretty impressive. So impressive in fact, that the site has summoned much enthusiasm from local groups, including the Bedfordshire bat group, the Bedfordshire mammal group, the Bedfordshire Natural History Society, the Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire Butterfly group and the Bedfordshire bird group, all keen to assist us in developing our understanding of the species and habitats of Strawberry Hill. Informed by these partnerships and subsequent surveys, the Wildlife Trust will take care to develop a unique management plan for the site. With the primary aim of diversifying and enhancing the ecological niches already developing and present at Strawberry Hill, our management plan with encourage an increasingly diverse array of species to take up residence in this special place.

I have had the pleasure of introducing many of our staff and volunteers to Strawberry Hill for the first time. And each time I do, I witness the way that this place invokes feelings of childlike wonder and excitement. Strawberry Hill will be an exercise in patience for many of us involved in its care, but if we are patient, and we get things right, the rewards could be revolutionary.

So, perhaps Strawberry Hill isn’t quite a mighty oak just yet. But, give it time, it’s still growing.