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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/14/birds-beasts-heathland-barrows-west-sussex-country-diary
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Birds and beasts of the heathland barrows | Birds and beasts of the heathland barrows |
| (2 months later) | |
| The ridge of the South Downs to the south is gleaming in the early morning sunshine. The heath and surrounding woods are quieter than they were a few weeks ago. There’s much less birdsong now – just a lonely tree pipit still whistling its territorial song from the top of a tall birch. | The ridge of the South Downs to the south is gleaming in the early morning sunshine. The heath and surrounding woods are quieter than they were a few weeks ago. There’s much less birdsong now – just a lonely tree pipit still whistling its territorial song from the top of a tall birch. |
| I walk downhill along the narrow, sandy footpath, the coarse, wiry heather scratching against my legs, and I look at the three barrows that rise on one side of the heathland, aligning roughly east to west. | I walk downhill along the narrow, sandy footpath, the coarse, wiry heather scratching against my legs, and I look at the three barrows that rise on one side of the heathland, aligning roughly east to west. |
| Dating back to the bronze age, between 2,400BC and 1,000BC, they were raised by piling up turf, covering it with sand from the heath and using wattle fencing to keep the unstable mound in place. They would have looked like round platforms rather than the collapsed dome structures we see today. | Dating back to the bronze age, between 2,400BC and 1,000BC, they were raised by piling up turf, covering it with sand from the heath and using wattle fencing to keep the unstable mound in place. They would have looked like round platforms rather than the collapsed dome structures we see today. |
| Although the barrows were originally thought to be for burials, excavations of nine similar mounds nearby found that only two contained human cremations, so they may not have been built for that purpose at all. | Although the barrows were originally thought to be for burials, excavations of nine similar mounds nearby found that only two contained human cremations, so they may not have been built for that purpose at all. |
| Perhaps there was something special about the elevated position of the exposed Wealden greensand ridge here, with its views to the Downs to the south and the hills to the north. Perhaps the round platforms were used for rituals performed by the early farmers who were the first to clear the trees – work now continued by the Sussex Wildlife Trust to encourage the specialist plants and animals that thrive here. | Perhaps there was something special about the elevated position of the exposed Wealden greensand ridge here, with its views to the Downs to the south and the hills to the north. Perhaps the round platforms were used for rituals performed by the early farmers who were the first to clear the trees – work now continued by the Sussex Wildlife Trust to encourage the specialist plants and animals that thrive here. |
| As I follow the path, I’m aware of small, dark common lizards and adders wriggling into cover, away from the vibrations of my approaching footsteps. A loud, metallic “sip-click-click” rings out across the heather from a young pine tree. A colourful male stonechat – velvet-black head and back, white collar and orange-red breast – calls out and flicks its tail in alarm. | As I follow the path, I’m aware of small, dark common lizards and adders wriggling into cover, away from the vibrations of my approaching footsteps. A loud, metallic “sip-click-click” rings out across the heather from a young pine tree. A colourful male stonechat – velvet-black head and back, white collar and orange-red breast – calls out and flicks its tail in alarm. |
| A brown female answers from the top of the neighbouring gorse. There are probably youngsters somewhere in the vegetation. I’m relieved to see them – recent hard winters had reduced their numbers on the West Sussex heathlands, but they seem to be recovering. | A brown female answers from the top of the neighbouring gorse. There are probably youngsters somewhere in the vegetation. I’m relieved to see them – recent hard winters had reduced their numbers on the West Sussex heathlands, but they seem to be recovering. |
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