Shadowbrook Meadows NR

D is on holiday this week and we paid a visit today to the quiet local Warwickshire Wildlife Trust reserve of Shadowbrook Meadows. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), covering 4.4 hectares, and falls within the larger site of Bickenhill Meadows.

The reserve consists of old meadow pastures (2 dry and 2 wet fields), a stream, wet woodland and 600 year old hedgerows. The unimproved, unfertilised, unsprayed, unploughed and species-rich grassland has been maintained over centuries by cutting hay and grazing regimes. It is a good example of how the countryside would have looked before the agricultural intensification in the twentieth century.

This scarecrow peering over the hedge really made me jump when I spotted it as I was about to climb over a stile.

Thankfully the grazing regime seems to have finished unless the cattle were out of sight in one of the wet meadows. In the past I've never bothered about the presence of cows and just tended to march across fields ignoring them but these days there seems to be a glut of stories in the media about people being attacked and chased by cattle so these days I am a trifle more wary especially as I can't run anywhere near as fast as I used to!

Lots of Dandelions, Red Campion and Garlic Mustard flowering along the path.

The first of the "dry" meadows.

Lots of wild flowers in the pastures - Cowslips and Bluebells galore, Lesser Celandine, Buttercup, Speedwell and Violet species plus a few Lady's Smock or Cuckoo flowers

I spotted my first Orange Tip of the year in the garden before we left home but at the Reserve I counted up to a dozen (admittedly some may have been the same individual) and interestingly they were all males.

*D

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Cowslips are one of my favourite Spring flowers. Alternative names include "key flower", "herb Peter", St Peter's keys" "Our Lady's bunch of keys", "Our Lady's cushion", "galligaskins", "jackanapes on horses"and "hose in hose". The names linked to keys refer to the shape of the flowers which were supposed to resemble keys. Apparently cowslips were once thought to have the power to split rocks that contained treasure!

There are a lovely few lines from a fairy song in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

"The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see,
These be rubies, fairy flavours,
In those freckles live their savours...
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."

We saw several damselflies in one of the wetter parts of the field - all the same species and D managed to get one record shot. I am not very good at damsel/dragonfly id but checking when we returned home I think it is probably a Large Red Damselfly (please correct me if I am wrong).

*D



I really ought to visit this reserve more often as it is only 20 minutes from home. D and I first went a few years ago in June. The post can be seen here . Just hoping the link works!! I will try and go again this summer and an autumn visit would definitely be worthwhile as waxcaps occur. EDIT - the link sort of works but for some reason if you follow it it shows the latest post i.e. this one first and you have to scroll down to the original post which appears below. Have tried to change it without success :(


We ended up having a pub lunch at The Bear Berkswell and a stop at the farm shop Meriden and then home.

*D - photos taken by D with the Canon Bridge SX50.


Reference: "Discovering the Folklore of Plants" by Margaret Baker

Shadowbrook Meadows NR, Scarecrows and Emperor Moth Caterpillar Update

Last week I finally went to a local Warwickshire Wildlife Trust meadow I've been meaning to visit for years. Shadowbrook Meadows fall within the much larger designated area of Bickenhill Meadows. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and covers 4.4 hectares. The reserve consists of two dry meadows and 2 wet meadows bisected by a small stream and each field is surrounded by hedgerows believed to be 600 years old.

What makes these meadows so special is the fact that over the centuries they have never been sprayed, fertilised or ploughed. This unimproved grassland demonstrates what much of our countryside would have looked like before the changes in agricultural practice last century. The biodiversity of the meadows has been maintained by using unaltered traditional hay cutting and grazing regimes.

The meadows are full of wildflowers and grasses in the summer. Butterflies seen include Common Blue and Small Copper and Pignut flowers attract Chimney Sweeper moths together and 6 nationally scarce insect species occur. In autumn several species of waxcap fungi can be found in the meadows.

My first view of the reserve

One of the Tenthredo sawflies (probably T arcuata). This individual is covered in yellow pollen but the yellow markings of the insect mimic wasps.

I was really chuffed to see the "Footballer" Hoverfly (so named because of the stripes). Also known as the Brindled Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus).

Marsh Thistle

The first of the two "dry" meadows

The second "dry" meadow

Following the path round the edge of the meadows

I don't think I've ever seen so many Yellow Rattle Plants - they were growing everywhere.

Honeysuckle in the hedgerows

Hogweed

Red clover and Yellow Rattle

Clover

There were some beautiful trees along the hedgerow

Ash

Sorrel

Soldier Beetle (Cantharis rustica)

Buttercups

Various Grasses

Record shot of a Lacewing - it was very windy when we were walking round which probably accounted for the lack of butterflies. We only saw a few Speckled Woods and "whites" and one of the blues too far away to be identified.

A large mass of Speedwell was flowering at the base of a hedgerow

Sawfly - Tethredo livida

I was really pleased to find this Scorpion Fly

The meadows are on the flight path to Birmingham International Airport and there were lots of these flying over every 5 minutes!

I would have liked to visit the wet meadows to see the Heath-spotted Orchids but after an hour and a half I'd managed to run out of time.


We drove home via Hampton-in-Arden. Last year I visited their Scarecrow Festival but I'd missed this year's so I took a few photos of this year's scarecrows from the car window as we drove through the village.

The four week old Emperor Moth caterpillars - now turning green!! They are rather a nightmare to clean out as when you try to transfer them with a paintbrush to a spare container they just cling onto leaves/kitchen paper in the container that needs cleaning. I am spending ages persuading each and everyone onto a leaf to get them into another container!