Keal Carr
Parish: East Keal and Toynton All Saints
OS: 122 • GR: TF 385648 • Map ref: 65
11.90 hectares (29.40acres) • Part management agreement, part freehold 1980, part gift from Mrs DF Holmes
Habitat type: Woodland
Location and Access
Situated to the north of the A16 road between Spilsby and East Keal, the reserve is reached by way of a narrow road (signposted to Old Bolingbroke and Mavis Enderby) that turns off the A16 a short distance east of East Keal. There is room for parking on the right-hand verge after a sharp left bend close to a Trust notice. Walk 300 yards down the track, turning right through a gate and crossing the field to the woodland edge. It is best to walk along the field edge to the corner where a hand gate gives entry to the wood. Visitors are requested to keep to the waymarked route. There is no circular route: it is necessary to retrace your steps. It is not a suitable reserve for visits by large numbers or anyone with disability.
Description and Management
This is probably the finest surviving example of the alder carrs of the southern Wolds, growing in small valleys created by streams cutting down through the soft Spilsby Sandstone into the Kimmeridge Clay below. The feature is also represented in the Snipe Dales and Sow Dale reserves. The upper slopes on the sandstone have an abundance of bluebells and red campion, but below the spring line on the impervious clay the ground is permanently wet and the woodland consists chiefly of alder and willow, which have been traditionally coppiced. Marsh-marigolds carpet this woodland floor in spring. Moschatel is also abundant, and there are both native species of golden-saxifrage: the opposite-leaved and the much rarer and rather finer alternate-leaved. In more open places there is a tall herb community, with yellow iris, giant horsetail, meadowsweet and angelica. There is a rich and varied bird fauna.
Management aims are the restoration of woodland cover in one area of the valley, the restoration of a coppice cycle, and the removal of sycamore, which has become over-dominant in places.
