Nature

Melwood - Your Local Nature Reserve Summer delights

As spring turns to summer the nature of the wood changes. Although the summer light is stronger it is now filtered through the leaf canopy creating dappled areas in the centre of the wood but in some areas the cover is so dense that there are exciting dark areas for children to explore.

Where the light penetrates, and especially on the meadow area, there is a profusion of flowers. The plant database on the website: www.melwood.btck.co.uk/Databases lists 45 plants, apart from trees. A few more species are identified regularly and added to the database. Some examples of the flowers in Melwood are two species of bellflower: spreading and nettle; two crane’s bill: dusky and meadow, the impressive ox-eyed daisy and white and red clover – to mention a few.

Some of the volunteering work is to ensure there is an appropriate habitat for these plants, some vulnerable, to flourish. This involves ensuring appropriate light is available by coppicing and pollarding and occasionally felling, protecting young plants from deer and rabbits, careful seeding and plant propagation and removal of competitors for instance the persistent nettles. However, nettles are also important for insects, including butterflies and moths, so patches are maintained in areas where the public don’t venture.

The meadow is mowed and raked each year to encourage distribution of seeds and provide the right environment for seed development. This is a fun exercise resurrecting memories of ancient village practices.

The presence of a varied flora is essential for the existence of the wide variety of butterflies and moths identified in the wood: 136 are recorded on the database. Whilst butterflies need flowers on which to feed and may find those in gardens, they also need appropriate wild flowers and grasses on which to lay eggs and where their caterpillars can feed, grow and produce the next generation of butterflies.

What species of butterflies you see in your garden is greatly influenced by how far it is from that essential breeding area? Some species, like Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Red Admiral are powerful fliers and may travel considerable distances from the patches of nettles on which they were born. Other common species, like Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Gatekeeper range less widely. The Large and Small White Butterflies (Cabbage Whites) are the only two that regularly complete their life cycles in gardens.

The ever expanding urban sprawl affects these habitats, which is why it is so important that nature reserves, even small ones like Melwood, are present and maintained around houses. This is even more critical in towns and cities. Thus we hope that the decline in the butterfly population is kept in check.

There is also concern that solar farms may affect the butterfly and moth population. The Rampisham Down case in Dorset is an interesting example of this controversy as the proposed solar farm is on an area of special scientific interest (SSSI). A public enquiry is now scheduled for September 2016.

However, it is encouraging to hear that some species are making a comeback thanks to efforts of organisations like Butterfly Conservation and the Wildlife Trust. A recent example is one of the UK’s rarest butterflies: the heath fritillary, thanks to a new site in Exmoor National Park. Locally the Speckled Wood, previously very scarce in North Herts and South Cambs., is now widespread and often common in woods and copses. More recently, the Marbled White has undergone a massive expansion of range. About 10 years ago you would have had to travel to the chalk hills west of Hitchin to see this species but about 7 years ago it started to spread and then about 4 years ago it suddenly turned up all over the area. Its caterpillars feed on tall grasses, so any suitably managed meadow may offer it a home and it has now appeared in Mel Meadow for the first time.

Much of the content of this article is taken from a piece by Jim Reid on the website under news and articles.

If anyone is interested in helping to preserve this habitat, please contact Graham Borgonon on 01763 260358 or Jim Reid on 260231.

Speckled Wood photograph by Jim Reid Dappled glade photograph by Tim Gane