Oaken Wood
Oaken Wood is a 18.7-hectare (46-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Maidstone in Kent.[1][2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site.[3] Known locally as "Barming Wood" due to the village of Barming being the closest settlement to Oaken Woods,[4] it is an ancient woodland with orchids, dormice, tawny owls, nightingales and many species of bat (alongside various other species).[5] This site provides the best example of a very unusual topography, with cracking and tilting of underlying weaker strata during the Pleistocene by periglacial processes producing crests and troughs in the surface rocks.[6] A public footpath crosses the site. In 2013, plans to uproot parts or all of Oaken Wood for a ragstone quarry were met with controversy due to its environmental importance (with various different species residing there) and its possibility in setting a legal precedent for up to 300 other ancient woodlands in the UK.[7] References
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