We met up at 10.00am and all managed to find the parking location in a lay-by just by one
of the reserve entrances so it easy to access the site. The weather was kind with sun,
cloud and one sharp rain shower when luckily, we were sheltering under trees.

The reserve is well known for its damp meadows with a sea of Devil’s Bit Scabious in
flower in September. Julian and I had been to the reserve in August during the drought
and the reserve had suffered with barely any scabious visible but having had the rain
earlier this month I thought it worth going anyway. The rain had done its work and despite
the main paddock being grazed by hungry but delightful Shetland ponies there were
patches of the lilac- coloured flowers. I have attached a photo showing the a key ID
feature of the plant as the leaves are not like the other scabious and the colour is more
deep and lilac. Thank you to Penny for pointing this out.

The rain had also encouraged some water mint to grow in the dampest meadows and
together with the scabious provided a late nectar source for several Clouded Yellows
which were a glorious rich deep yellow/ green mix of colours. This has been a good year
for these butterflies, a Clouded Yellow year, these butterflies will fly back south and if you
are lucky they may be seen gathering together in large groups and rising on thermals to
make sea crossings, I met someone from the Gower Peninsula who had seen such an
event early in September.

There are not just flowering plants to enjoy as the reserve has many veteran trees
including an large old pollarded Grey Willow by the main path and many old silver birch
which I discovered can grow as a multi stem tree. Paul pointed out the veteran features
such as all the nooks and crannies in the bark and the fallen limbs, all vital places for
wildlife to thrive. There was also an area of what at first site looked like anthills but close
inspection showed these were developed from tufts of grass over many years, an
interesting phenomenon.

Sightings:

Flowers:

Devils Bit Scabious (see photo)
Sneezewort (see photo)
Fleabane
Knapweed
Self Heal
Tormentil (see photo)

Insects:

Common Carder bees
Peacock Butterfly
Clouded Yellow
Speckled Wood

Birds:

Large mixed tit flock followed us around the reserve with Treecreeper, Long-tailed tits,
Blue tits and Chiffchaff.