Ham Street Woods is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 (SSSI) near Hamstreet

Hamstreet

Hamstreet is a village in Kent, in South East England.The village is located some 6 miles south of Ashford on the A2070, the main road between Ashford and Hastings...

 and Ruckinge

Ruckinge

The village of Ruckinge is located in Kent. It lies seven miles southeast of Ashford on the B2067 Hamstreet to Hythe road. It is the centre of a civil parish of the same name, which also includes the scattered community of Bromley Green...

, six miles (10 km) from Ashford

Ashford, Kent

Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...

 in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The woodland is said to be more than 400 years old.

The site is on the escarpment of the old Saxon

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

 shoreline and the Saxon Shore Way

Saxon Shore Way

The Saxon Shore Way is a long-distance footpath in England, starting at Gravesend, Kent and traces the coast as it was in Roman times as far as Hastings, East Sussex, in total.-History:...

 passes through the woods. The boundary of the site was amended to include the Ham Street Woods National Nature Reserve

National Nature Reserves in England

National Nature Reserves in England are managed by Natural England and are key places for wildlife and natural features in England. They were established to protect the most important areas of habitat and of geological formations...

(one of the first in the country and a former part of the site (Burnt Oak Wood) is now included in the nearby Orlestone Forest (SSSI).

Most of the site has been coppiced

Coppicing

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...

 and in parts the coppicing is still cut. Plants such as bluebell

Common Bluebell

Hyacinthoides non-scripta, commonly known as the common bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant. -Taxonomy:...

, primrose (Primula vulgaris)

Primula vulgaris

Primula vulgaris is a species of Primula native to western and southern Europe , northwest Africa , and southwest Asia...

 and wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa)

Anemone nemorosa

Anemone nemorosa is an early-spring flowering plant in the genus Anemone in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe. Common names include wood anemone, windflower, thimbleweed and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves...

 flourish, and plants of open areas such as goldenrod

Goldenrod

Solidago, commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Most are herbaceous perennial species found in the meadows and pastures, along roads, ditches and waste areas in North America. There are also a few species native to Mexico, South...

 (Solidago virgaurea

Solidago virgaurea

Solidago virgaurea is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Asteraceae. It is grown as a garden flower with many different cultivars. It flowers profusely in late summer.-Herbalism:...

) and Heath Cudweed (Gnaphalium sylvaticum

Gnaphalium sylvaticum

Gnaphalium sylvaticum, commonly known as wood cudweed and heath cudweed, is a weedy plant found in the North Temperate Zone. It was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.-Description:It is a perennial herb with short runners....

) colonise.