Distance: 1 mile
Parking: Free – car park and road outside the entrance
Family Friendly: Yes
Pushchair/ wheelchair access: Yes
Facilities: No
This is a lovely place to visit, the walk is as long or short as you would like to make it, and the large open grassland areas makes it the perfect stop for a picnic.
There are 2 small lakes that are beautiful, but open. So if you have littles ones you will need to keep a close eye on them. I am not too sure how deep the water is.
History
This used to be an old colliery (coal mining facility and associated buildings). This was established in the early 1900s and remained under the ownership of the coal mining association until the 1990s, when the council took over ownership and turned the site in to a recreational ground.
One of the main purposes is to allow the site to rewild (meaning allowing nature to take back a former industrial space). There is some evidence of the colliery in the wider area, but I have to admit I did not see anything when I walked around on this visit. I might have to access a map and see if I can find the pits.
All of the buildings have been demolished, so there are no standing remnants of the colliery that I was aware of. Maybe a more historically trained eye would do better.
Identified Species
Comma – Polygonia c-album
I have to say I am very happy with this find. Butterfly identification is a new one for me and trying to get a decent photo of a butterfly has been one of the most challenging things for me! They are not known to just sit patiently waiting for you to get your zoom settings right! But, this stunning Comma was very accommodating.
The most clearly identifiable things about this butterfly are the wing edges, they are not smooth and rounded but more jagged, almost like the butterfly was dragged through a hedge. They are orange with brown/ black markings. The markings are more solid towards the body and getting more blurred towards the wing edges.
When the wings are closed, this butterfly blends in very well with tree bark! It looks very much like an old leaf or bark.
Identified Bird Species
So, me and my camera are trying to get better at actually photographing birds I can hear in the woods, for now here is a list of the birds I heard singing or calling at the woods
Treecreeper – Certhia familiaris
Jackdaw – Corvus monedula
Carrion Crow – Corvus crone
Wren – Troglodytes troglodytes
Blue Tit – Cyanistes caeruleus
Great Tit – Parus major
Robin – Erithacus rubecula
Blackbird – Turdus merula
Wood Pigeon – Columba palumbus
Buzzard – Buteo buteo
Canadian Geese – Branta canadensis
Chiffchaff – Phylloscopus collybita
This is one I was able to photograph, although I have to admit I did not know it at the time. This bird is very unassuming for such a lovely call.
This little bird is a summer migrant, but we also have some resident pairs now. It is a pale brown bird, with a while/ creamy coloured chest, belly and vent. It has a small black beak and a dark eye stripe marking which can be used as visual identification. It is a member of the warbler family
Weeping Polypore – Inonotus dryadeus
This might not be identified correctly. I have will have to go back and see if I can find it again to see if it has matured in to a weeping polypore, but it looks and feels very much like a young one.
It has a soft feel, almost live velvet. It is both firm and soft at the same time! If you poke one you will know what I mean. The very edge feels soft, but it is not something you could pull off or put a finger through. When matured it will form holes on the surface and weep.
Corsican Pine – Pinus nigra
A lovely tall 2 needled pine. The needles are attached in pairs, with a brown woody attachment. When the needles fall away this leaves a mark on the stem. The bark is darker and rougher than a Scot’s pine, these 2 pines are often commonly mistaken.
It is a largely straight, with few branches lower down once it has matured. Branches are well spaced, it is not overly dense.
Goat Willow – Salix caprea
This is a female tree, which certainly threw me off the identification for a while. I have only seen the male goat willow in the past, with soft fluffy catkins. The female are more complex looking catkins which are firmer to touch and have darker tips to each part of the catkin.
The tree is otherwise very willow looking, with thin branches hanging down, with many thin stems folding down.
Wild Privet – Ligustrum vulgare
The leaves are dark green with a waxy appearance. Completely oval in shape, with smooth straight edges, no toothed markings or anything else. The leaves are in opposite pairs along the stem. Stems are green and this forms a tangled bushy appearance when grown.
Lords and Ladies – Arum alpinum
This is the plant in its vegetative stage. It has lovely long heart-shaped leaves. The leaves are deeply veins and often appear wrinkled at the edges. They’re not toothed or serrated. The plant itself has a lovely white/ green calla lily type flower wrap called a spathe, with a thin spadix in the centre. Once this flower has gone, there will be a bright red bead head at the top of the stem.
Lesser Celandine – Ficaria verna
A bright yellow flower with long petals. It looks like a buttercup with the petals stretched out and elongated. It is a member of the buttercup family. It has small heart shaped leaves found at the base of the plant. The flower stands on a tall thin stem
There are so many interesting things to see at this site.
An example is this lovely lichen
This is a complex lichen forming lovely long tendrils. This is an indicator of good air quality, which is always nice to find when you’re out walking.
Lichen are a group of organisms, consisting of bacteria, fungi and alga. The fungi form for the shapes and offer protection and support for the alga. The alga photosynthesises and offers food for itself and the fungi. The bacteria will place a role in this relationship too, although this is a developing area of research.
Here is a lovely example of coppicing, which is a woodland management technique that isn’t used too much these days. People cut trees (often willow) at the base and allow many branches to form low down. This grows many thin branches that can be used for making various things from like baskets, furniture and use in match making.
Here we have interspecific competition at play!
The large pine and growing and putting the smaller tree next to it in shade, so you can see the trunk of the tree is growing to the side, in the trees desperate effort to find the sun!
Finally this is what a grassland looks like when it is left to do its own thing. Sometimes people think if the grass is not shirt the area is not being managed or looked after. But in many instances this sort of area is managed to look like this!
This sort of scrubby land provides many homes for birds, mammals, and insects. It also allows the ground and soil to regenerate and fill with life. There will also be fungi in here! This offers food, shelter, and protection for many species who would rather not be in an exposed area for their predators to see them!
Here are some other lovely photos of this place. Well worth a visit in my opinion!
