Slindon Woods
A photo Journey | Autumn 2025
Slindon Estate is a National Trust property of about 3,500 acres in West Sussex, featuring a mix of woodland, farmland, downland, and a historic Sussex village. The estate includes ancient landscapes, mediaeval deer parks, bridleways and foot paths. I’ve recently been exploring and photographing it, and in the process uncovered a mystery.
The area I have been exploring, are the southern woods, known colloquially as Slindon Woods. Nestled between Dukes Lane, the A27, A29 and Slindon Village, these woods have many interesting botanical and geological features. In this article I’ll share some of the photos I took over a few days in mid November, when the autumn colours and fungi were in full swing.
Getting There
Slindon Woods are less than 20 minutes drive from my home. Taking the scenic route, via a series of zigzagging B-roads and country lanes was a treat in itself, with the countryside glowing in rich autumn colours — perhaps the best we’ve had in many years. I know these back-roads well, and have driven them over a thousand times in the last two decades. The light is always changing, and there are many features that I’ve come to love. The light was magnificent, so I just had to stop and photograph along on the way.
GALLERY 1 | COUNTRY ROAD
I like photographing roads. They effortlessly lead the eye through the image, providing a sense of direction and piquing the interest of what’s round the corner.
park & walk
Slindon Woods is bounded to south-west by Duke’s lane, half-way along which is a National Trust car-park, but I have yet to use that (a bit too obvious.) Instead, I parked in London Way, Walburton (BN18 0SG), which is on the south side of the A27. From here, there is a convenient underpass which takes you straight to the start of Dukes Lane bridleway. This short urbanised part of the walk, nevertheless, provided me with some interesting photo opportunities.
GALLERY 2 | Underpass
I like curious bits of infrastructure like these: utilitarian railings, pipework or electrical installations. Although easy to overlook (or even despise), each is a little bespoke creation: designed and crafted for a precise location and purpose: a solution to a particular design challenge; Quirky, humble, curious. Ugly, at first glance, but look again… see the art?
Reflections
Following recent rains, there are many puddles in and around the woods. I used these to create some abstract photographs which came out really well. They are a bit disorientating initially, familiar, yet unfamiliar. Initially, it is hard to place the foreground foliage: floating like stained glass, yet somehow an appropriate part of the tree. In some cases the light is bent into little star-bursts.
GALLERY 3 | Reflections
At first glance you might think these have been created by double-exposure or some photoshop trick. Actually, they were simply taken looking down into various puddles at the edge of the wood, focusing on the reflected trees that could be seen within. All I have done is flip the images in the editor, so that the trees are the right way up (and the bridleway sign the right way round).
Right, into the woods…
Slindon Woods
One perimeter of Slindon Woods, along-side the bridleway, has recently been improved with new estate fencing that the National Trust says has been found on other parts of Slindon estate. Regardless of historical precedence, this is one of my favourite styles of fencing, and can be seen in many parts of Sussex and the Downs. Made of steel, it lasts for many years and is as ornamental as it is practical. I’d certainly consider it for a large garden project.
From the bridleways, many footpaths, narrow tracks and broad open walks create a labyrinth across the woodlands, which although not particularly extensive, provide a lot of opportunity for exploration. After three visits I think I have only covered half of the area. The woods have a delightful character: both young and ancient at the same time. It took me a little while to realise it, but there was a bit of a mystery here.
GALLERY 4 | Character of the Woods
The woodland consists of mixed native broadleaves, including birch, beech, hazel, as well as evergreens including holly and yew. I got a strange feeling in the woods, as the landforms, ferns and fungi point to a very ancient woodland (with mediaeval and roman influence), yet the trees are almost entirely young — no more than 30 or 40 years old to my eye. The photo below (which is perhaps my favourite from my recent visits) shows how lithe much of the growth is:
FEATURED PHOTO | Young Silver Birch trees
There were other features of the woodland that caught my eye early on. First, near the entrance from the Duke’s Lane bridleway there is a deep depression, perhaps 40ft across and 15ft deep. I’ve not been able to ascertain its specific origin. It could have been a crater from world-war two, but there is no record of bombs falling on the estate. Perhaps it could be part of the mediaeval earth works as the Slindon estate was once an enclosed deer park, surrounded by a “park pale”—a structure consisting of earth banks, ditches, and fences designed to keep deer inside the park while allowing them to enter from outside. The remains of these park pale earthworks are still visible today, although not particularly close to this depression.
Another mystery, which I saw repeatedly throughout the woodland, are a large number of mounds with adjacent hollows. It soon became clear that these were the remains of heaved root plates where large trees had fallen. The largest of these reach 6ft high and the deepest adjacent hollows 3-4ft deep, and nearly 10ft across, suggesting that there were once huge, ancient trees on the site. But, as already noted, that is not the case now. And unlike many woods, where such fallen trees are sporadic, and the trunk still evident in some degree of decay, indicating how long ago it fell, in Slindon woods, there is a distinct absence of old trunks or stumps: just a lot of these huge, heaved root plates. It’s as if there was some kind of cataclysm in which all the old trees disappeared at the same time, and long enough ago for them all to have rotted away in the intervening years.
GALLERY 5 | A Puzzling Landscape
Bare roots | This young holly tree caught my eye as it has unusually exposed roots, as if the soil has washed away. Another indication that trees in Slindon woods may have difficulty with their foundations on shallow chalk soil.
After a bit of research, all of this now makes sense. Speaking to a friend who has lived in the area for longer than me, Slindon Estate, he explained, was one of the worst affected parts of the country during the Great Storm of 1987. On that one night, when the UK lost an estimated 15 million trees, virtually all of the ancient trees in Slindon Woods were toppled. It is hypothesised that the rains in the weeks before the storm, loosened the shallow soils, making those ancient trees more vulnerable than others in the area. Overnight, the landscape was transformed, as almost all of the Slindon Wood was flattened. Locals worked quickly to clear the fallen trees, and in the intervening years, natural and assisted regeneration has taken place, producing the peculiar natural history that pricked my curiosity during my visits.
Slindon Park
Slindon Woods forms a crescent around the southern boundary of the Slindon Mediaeval Deer Park. Consequently, while exploring the woods, I was occasionally afforded views into the central parkland. I only took a couple of photos, but I think they are important as they provide a context in which these woods grow.
GALLERY 6 | Mediaeval Deer Park
Fungi
My initial visit to Slindon Woods on the 9th of November, was to find some fungi to photograph. However, the wider appeal of the woods kept me coming back. In terms of fungi, though, there were plenty to photograph, although the presence of many large black toadstool remnants, indicated that there had been an even more impressive display a few weeks before.
GALLERY 7 | Fungi
I’m no mycologist, and identifying fungi is not easy. I used google reverse image-search for each photo and then cross check with other sources. I have pretty good success with plants and insects, but so often with fungi, there are very similar species that can only be differentiated on close inspection. Consequently, I’ve erred on the side of caution in my labelling. If you spot a mistake, please leave a comment below so I can correct it.
Dusk
On one of my visits, I didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon, and being so late in the year, the light began to fade earlier than expected, especially in the depths of the woods. I adapted by using a small LED pocket lamp to light my subjects, which created some very nice evening shots.
GALLERY 8 | Fungi at twilight
By the time I had finished, the woods were quite dark, and with all the looking down, and wandering from mushroom to mushroom, I had become disoriented. Looking around in the gloom, I realised I was a bit lost. Beyond the woods, the sun was setting, throwing deep orange light on the perimeter trees, and in places penetrating further creating little glowing scenes and puddles of light here and there, but much of the wood was now quite dark. Through the thicket of the woods, I caught glimpses of a golden glow which I knew would soon be gone. I quickly sought the way back, taking a few wrong turnings along the way, nearly heading off in completely the wrong direction, but for a tree that I recognised from earlier, allowing me to correct my course.
FEATURED PHOTO 2 | BECKONING Light
On the way back to the car, I came across some beautiful scenes. The autumn leaves were glowing like stained glass in an ancient church. Although I had to be quick, I managed to capture some beautiful pictures.
GALLERY 9 | woods at dusk
