Hartlebury Common Local Group - Reports of Meetings

Tel/fax: 01299 877275 E-mail: enquiries@HartleburyCommonLocalGroup.org.uk

On Monday 2nd November 2009 Dr David Arthey spoke about the “Mountain Flowers of the Central Pyranees”. The central Pyranees lie between France and Span and it is a very interesting area for flowers and the landscapes are magnificent. We were shown around 100 wonderful slides mainly of plant species some only found in that area. Mid June to early/mid July is the best time to visit.

On Monday 12th October David Bills spoke about the history of Kinver Edge and its volunteers. Two hundred acres of the 300 owned by the National Trust is an SSSI and the volunteers do much restoration work on lowland heath there. It was given to the NT by the Lee family around 1917 who bought it from the Webbs Estate. In the mid 1800’s it was the Switzerland of the Midlands and many people used to visit it. By the 1970’s Holy Austin Rock was all that was left after quarrying stone and all the residents of the stone houses had been relocated. In 1990 the Kinver Edge Rock House Restoration project was initiated and this can now be seen completed. Currently around 20 small cattle are grazed on 60 acres of the site.

On Monday 14th September Patrick Clements, the Reserve Manger for Penorchard Meadow Reserve spoke on “Nature and conservation, the work of a wildlife group.” He described the practical nature conservation work of Halesowen Wildlife Group including, pond creation, nest boxes (some with resident kestrels and tawny owls), hedge laying, pollarding etc illustrated with his own photographs of badgers, foxes, birds, butterflies, mice, voles fungi etc.

On Monday 1st June Sylvia Sheldon spoke on “Seasons in the Wyre Forest”. She first become a tenant of the National Trust at Knowles Mill in 1981/2 and has lived there 28 years. It was the last standing water corn mill in the area built in 1757. There has been some restoration and this is continuing. Sylvia gave a very interesting illustrated talk of the wildlife around her garden and mill which changes with the seasons, from plants and birds to butterflies and voles, rabbits, fallow deer and badgers. She’s very knowledgeable about their life histories too. She’s even kept pigs at Knowles Mill.

On Monday 11th May Dave Scott talked about the British Trust of Ornithology common bird census which lasted for ten years from 1999. It was instigated when a new management plan was implemented for Hartlebury Common and the survey was adapted from the ones used by BTO for farmland and woodland. A three to four hour repeated path was walked on ten occasions for ten years in the period the end of April to the end of June. The results were extrapolated into the number of breeding territories for all species birdsong was recorded. By transcribing all the species recorded on each occasion onto individual species maps a cluster of the same species at the same place on the map indicated a territory. A BTO analyst, Dawn Barmar, will be looking at the information to see whether there has been any change in species populations over the ten year period and comparing these differences to national changes in bird populations, for example, are chiff-chaff down in numbers in a particular year that reflects national statistics. Tree pipits have moved north with their food supply of insects due to global warming so fewer are now found on Hartlebury Common. Heathland is a man-made habitat so the keeping back of scrub by management practices may have affected the number and diversity of the bird population but it is difficult to distinguish trends with the yearly and global effects. However the analyst may find something in the data when she examines it. There are around 22 robin territories on Hartlebury Common and the work takes 50 hours year making it 500 man hours for the ten year project.

On Monday 13th April Gordon Forrest spoke about Upton Warren, Worcestershire’s premier bird reserve. Christopher Cadbury gave Upton Warren to the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust forty years ago when it consisted of saline flash pools to which birds visited and it was developed into a SSSI and inland salt marsh. The rare species of bird seen there include common tern, oyster catcher, cheaters warblers, anacles and bittons. There were many slides of different species of birds and Mr Forrest described their migration histories. Such species as jack snipe, common sand piper, red shank, yellow wagtail, coots, moor hens, herons, kingfishers, lapwings, cuckoos, reed bunting, little grebe, kestrels, little owls, common snipe, green shank, little stint, green woodpecker, Scandinavian thrush, gold finch, jays, black headed gulls, water rail, swans and an American least sandpiper can be seen at Upton Waren.

On Monday 9th March 2009 Chris Bradley, chairman of The Wyre Forest Society, spoke about “Deer of the Wyre Forest”. Fallow deer were introduced in 11th/12th century to the Wyre Forest, noblemen hunted deer there in the 13th/14th century although hunting died out in the 15th/16th century. In 1880 the Mawley Estate deer escaped during a harsh winter and the deer of the Wyre Forest are descendents of those escapees.

Fallow bucks are named according to their age and can be distinguished by the size of their antlers which they cast every Spring and their bodies differ in colour. Deer are culled in the Wyre Forest so that a large healthy population can browse on the vegetation that is available. Conifers give the best protection and cover to deer for lying up. There are lots of road casualties each year throughout the Wyre Forest and sometimes they are poached for their meat. Chris showed around 90 slides and gave a very interesting talk.

On Monday 9th February 2009 John Meilklejohn spoke about “Beetles, bugs and Insects in Worcestershire” Initially he spoke of the classification of insects depending on their body parts and went on to describe the life history of the emperor moth. He described and showed slides of many different classes of insect including the willow puss moth, frog hopper, shield bug, slow bug cabbage aphid, field grasshoppers, ground beetles, stag beetles, may bugs, weevils, glow worms, ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies. The stories he told about their behavior was fascinating.

On Monday 12th January 2009 Paul Allen related his experiences of keeping cattle on the Wyre Forest Nature Reserves. In 1997 Redstone Marsh was being destroyed by Himalayan Balsam (HB) so he fenced the area and grazed cattle – the HB went in a month. The cattle could not be fed with any seeds that would germinate and introduce new plants to the area so biscuits were used to entice them to be counted. Spennells was also fenced with an Environment Agency grant. On a day just before there was an organized walk the cows escaped and roamed Kidderminster and Paul gave a number of very funny anecdotes all about his cows on the nature reserves of the Wyre Forest. The flora of the nature reserves has improved since their introduction. He currently has 34 cattle in 6 and 7 at different sites and he moves them around according to the animals’ welfare, the degree of grazing that he requires and the number of staff call outs outside normal working hours and works in association with a local farmer and a stockman funded by English Nature permanently looking after them.

On Monday 8th December 2008 Phil Seaton gave a fascinating talk about Orchid Conservation throughout the world. Funded by the Darwin initiative he has organized two workshops in China and Ecuador to develop protocols for developing and storing orchid seed for the long term. At low moisture content seeds can be stored for many decades. We saw wonderful images of many species of rare orchid and a twenty-five pounds donation was made to Orchid Conservation International.

On Monday 10th November John Rhymer spoke on Bishop’s Wood Environmental Centre. It was built between 1993 and 1994 and is the first sustainable environmental centre in the country. It has organic paints on the walls, a reed bed sewage system, a turf roof and cedar shingle roof, recycled paper insulation on plaster board breathable walls, a solar hot water system and was built in a shape to reflect the tree canopy in which it is situated. It is run by Worcestershire County Council (WCC) and sponsored by National Grid who own the site and building.

The centre can accommodate three school classes at a time so up to 340 a year with 10,000 students from Worcestershire schools. It runs inset days for teachers, school grounds development team days, forest schools, a vocational inclusive programme, post 16 groups, summer play schemes, volunteering, team building and is involved in national issues. There are thirty-eight different programmes, for example the Saxon, mini-beasts and water for life. By 2011 it will have a zero budget from WCC.

On Monday 13th October Mike Averill spoke on “The Dragonflies of Hartlebury Common. Of the 28 species of dragonfly and damselfly found in Worcestershire 18 occur on Hartlebury Common. The most common are the common hawker, the four spotted chaser, the black darter and the common chaser, characteristic of heathlands. Others include the emperor dragonfly, azure damselfly, blue-tailed damselfly, common blue damselfly, large red damselfly, southern hawker, migrant hawker, brown hawker, broad bodied chaser, common darter and ruddy darter. On Hillditch Pool with Hartlebury brook running through there are 17 species including banded demoiselle, beautiful demoiselle and red-eyed damselfly. Their features and life histories were described.

It is possible that rainwater no longer runs off the housing estate between the river Severn onto the bogland of Hartrebury Common so the level of water in the bog has declined. Ways of rectifying this were discussed.

On Monday 22nd September John Iles spoke “Tales of Uncllys Farm, Ruskinland, Bewdley” at Stourport Boat Club The farm is a patchwork of small fields SW of the Wyre Forest which has grown in size from 13 acres to 85 acres in the last four years. The Quales, followers of John Ruskin and the Guild of St George settled there in 1914 and planted cherry orchards. Now the Iles’ try to be as carbon neutral as possible by using solar electric panels for energy, 24 2V DC cells store and they convert energy into 240V AC. This makes life very interesting as they tend to live sequentially according to priorities, sometimes it’s the washing machine at other times it’s the bread maker. They also burn wood.

The Iles’ are restoring the traditional orchards and meadows using practical conservation methods and rare species are becoming established and are monitored, some meadows becoming SSSIs. They keep Dexter cattle and the meat is eaten locally. They have restored the garden of the farm without the use of herbicides and insecticides. They use the timber they fell effectively. Work parties assist with fencing and pond making. Church groups, writers and painters visit the farm, there is an open Sunday every year in June, meetings and mini-conferences take place.

John admitted it’s hard work and wonders how anyone makes a living out of farming, DEFRA and Natural England are a real help, it takes lots of people to keep it going and it’s well worth it – especially in the Spring.

On Saturday 5th July Mike Williams led a natural history walk on Hartlebury Common which was very well attended despite the wet weather. Lots of species were identified. and conservation work which Hartlebury Common Local Group is doing was described.

On Saturday 23rd May Mike Southall led another moths night which was very succesful and many species of moth were captured in light traps and then released until the wee small hours of Sunday morning.

On Suday 4th May Mike Southall led the hunt for the Emperor moth but none was found - rather lots of other day flying species and some butterflies.

On Saturday 3rd May there was a dawn chorus bird walk on Hartlebury Common. Lots of people attended and really enjoyed getting early and meeting at 4.14 am. Dave Scott led the party and expertly identified over twenty species of bird song while walking around the Common after dawn had broken. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed breakfast at The Titton Cafe from 6.30 am and everyone who had to get off to work make it on time.

On Monday 7th April Roy Mantle, spoke on Wild wild flowers His slide presentation of the flowers and landscapes of Shropshire – Cramer Gutter on the Clee Hills SSSI, the Welsh borders and the Gower Peninsula and the mountains of Wales, North Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands was marvelous. The species shown include: lily of the valley in the Wyre Forest, butterfly orchid, cotton sedge, cross leaved heath, butterwort, sundew, bog bean, spotted orchid, bog pimpernel, marsh sainfoin, marsh gentian, seal holly, marsh helleborine, wood violet, bane berry, mountain ravens, angular solomon’s seal, cloud berry, starry saxifrage, alpine ladies mantle and many many more.

On Monday 10 March Ed Andrews, ranger at Severn Valley Country Park spoke about the habitats in Severn Valley Country Park. This reclaimed, 180 acre coal pit site opened in 1992 is now a joy to behold with meadow, grassland, woodland, stream, pool and river habitats. Planting has taken place and common spotted orchids, green winged orchids, yellow rattle, twayblade occur in the meadow and clearings with anthills, meadow sweet and meadow cranesbill in the grassland. The woodland contains blue bell, ransoms or wild garlic, silver birch and willow, wood anemone and alder. The beech woodland on the other side contains violet helleborine and toothwort. The stream water runs through limestone which is eroded and deposited covering twigs with limestone. Caddis fly species are found there while from the Elfin pool pond dipping platform fresh water leeches and water boatmen can be viewed. The rare club tailed dragon flies in May and June and tawny owl chicks are present in specially built nest boxes. Six species of pipistrelle bats can be seen flying and grass snakes can be seen in ponds. It sounds a truly marvelous place to visit during the Spring and Summer.

On Monday 11th February John Robinson, retired warden of the Wyre Forest and award winning photographer spoke on The Natural History of the Wyre Forest. He showed around a hundred slides separating the Wyre Forest into woodland, woodland edge, fresh water, meadow and field. It really was a really fascinating talk with absolutely brilliant photography covering all aspects of the Wyre Forest’s natural history from fungi to frogs and foxgloves and beetles and butterflies to bird species which he photographs by setting up hides all over the locality. The life history of the redstart was particularly described. There were lots of interesting facts about each species shown, for example, some butterflies do not move more than 60 yds and brambles are an important nectar source for them and the glow worms there feed on slugs not snails as the soil is acid.

There was so much information it is impossible to impart it here and I would thoroughly recommend attending any presentations that John Robinson makes. He also undertakes bat surveys.



On Monday 14th January Rosemary Winnall spoke “Hidden Places, Secret Lives”, Hartlebury Common is very important for insects. Due to her circumstances Rosemary has studied the life history and expertly photographed the insects in her wonderful garden. She spoke about grasshoppers, red masonry bees, ruby tailed wasps, leaf cutter bees, orange tip butterflies, brown hair streaks, common blue butterflies, Essex skippers, several species of hover fly, giant willow aphids, several species of bumble bee, cuckoo bees, mullion moth, pyramidal moth, pond skaters, emperor dragon flies, frogs, great crested newts, grass snakes, badgers, foxes, common shrew, solitary bees and spider wasps. Their natural history was amazing described in much detail with wonderful photographs. For example, the female masonry bee emerges two weeks after the male and proceeds to mate and lay up to 40 eggs with yellow pollen collected from her underside sealed into individual compartments of a bee tube with mud collected from the garden brook. The growing larvae can be viewed through the see-through tubes eating the pollen and they pupate in the Autumn. Leaf cutter bees use greenhouse vines to plug the cells of bamboo nest tubes. They must know the size of leaf to cut. All the information was this fascinating and would take pages to describe for which there is no space here.
Rosemary is in the process of planning the Wyre Forest Study Group’s work for 2008 for which she has attracted significant funding.



On Monday 12 November 2007, Dave Scott, retired Area Sites Officer for Worcestershire gave a talk on the (British Trust for Ornithology) BTO breeding bird survey since 1999. Every year he visits Hartlebury Common ten times between April and June for around three hours early in the morning and walks the same paths identifying and recording the birds he sees and the bird song that he hears on specially designed maps of the Common.
Analysis of the results by the BTO can determine the number of territories of breeding birds and how their numbers are changing over time. In 2005, there were 20 willow warbler territories which are not common locally, 14 blackbird, 19 robin, 20 wren, 6 blue tit, 4 long tit, 2 song thrush, 3 mistle thrush, 6 great tit, 8 chaffinch and cuckoo too. Since 1999 linnets have possibly been increasing in numbers, yellow hammer are variable. The general picture is complex and more data is necessary before trends are possible to analyse.
Dave Scott has begun to take a look at the butterflies on Hartlebury Common for the Butterfly Conservation Society for the first time in 2007 using the same pathways for walking around Hartlebury Common.



On Monday 8 October 2007, Mervyn Needham, Ranger of Chaddesley Corbett Woods spoke about the history of the woods, the ecology and his work there. Chaddesley Corbett wood possibly appears in the Doomsday Book and certainly in a 1745 map on the Throckmorton Estate. The Cadbury family gifted it to Worcestershire Wildlife in the 1960’s and it is currently managed by them.


The woodland is regularly surveyed and contains such rarities as silver washed fritillary butterflies and it contains plant species characteristic of ancient woodland. Forty species of birds are regularly recorded and rare species of fungi sometimes appear.


Mervyn and his volunteers conserve and perpetuate the woodland and increase biodiversity. They do this by trimming back rides, clearing out the ponds, litter pick, assist with A level students, coppice alder on a 12 year cycle, fell conifers, charcoal burning silver birch, checking paths and the roadway for overhanging branches and undertaking public relations with people who use the wood, and assisting PhD students from Birmingham University.




18th August was memorable as the rain stopped just before the second live moth trapping night on the common and the warm, humid conditions were very suitable for flying moths. Five rare species of moth only to be found on Hartlebury Common in Worcestershire were caught in the seven traps. The spectacular Oak Eggar was attracted by the lights as were two old lady’s moths.



Tuesday 3 July 2007, Members of Hartlebury Common Local group held a walk to look at landscape and search for butterflies and amphibia on the Common (limited places) from Wilden Top Car Park, meet 8.00 pm prompt, wear stout shoes and we may visit local public houses.


• Dr Joy M Rooney, Chairperson lead a short botanical walk on Hartlebury Common which, despite all our recent rainy weather was fine and the Committee held one meeting in the Old Rose and Crown afterwards. No butterflies or amphibia were observed that evening due to weather conditions.




Monday 9th July 2007, Simon Wood, Manager of Worcestershire Biological Record Centre and Becky Lashly, Project Officer spoke about biological recording and The Heritage Lottery funded Ancient Trees project respectfully.


• The history of the record centre was described from its inception in the 1980’s in a Worcester City Council office, into an Oxfam bookshop and eventually where it is now housed being rented from Worcestershire Wildlife, Lower Smite Farm. It is run by two members of staff and mainly volunteers and holds around a million biological records for Worcestershire.


Data is encoded into a Recorder 2002 computer program provided by the Joint Nature Conservancy Committee who are Government Advisors based in Peterborough and regularly updated. The data is pooled, verified and validated and produced in reports of particular areas, for example, specific nature reserves as Hartlebury Common is or by mapping tetrads (four kilometre squares). The data is used by county council and planning consultants. It holds 4160 discrete records for Hartlebury Common of 2110 species on 43 pages and as far as rarities are concerned there are many butterflies, moths and fungi that are present there.


In addition to the naturalists database which includes Hartlebury Common there is a Worcestershire Flora Database.


The aim of the Ancient tree project is to increase awareness and increase appreciation and create better management of ancient trees in Worcestershire. There are many ancient trees in this county. For an oak a minimum girth of 4 m is 300 – 400 years old and grows in open parkland, or with a 2.0 – 2.5 m girth of 200 – 399 years old in woodland. Fruit trees become ancient at 100 years and there is a 200 year old pear tree in Worcestershire.


The project currently holds a database with 1000 ancient trees in Worcestershire so far and project is led by John Tilt and Harry Green. Fifty thousand pounds over two years will be used to run talks and walks and surveys of local area. Ancient tress are of biological value because other species grow, nest and roost in them, for example, tawny owl, bats, fungi, dead wood dependent invertebrates such as violet clip beetle.


There is also the cultural and historical value of ancient trees with ancient settlements planting trees 1000 years ago the project will explore links to royal hunting forests in the 12th and 13th centuries, there being seven in Worcestershire.


Forest law did not allow the cutting down of trees, however some oak and ash were used for defense such as in bows and arrows, HMS Victory used 6000 oaks for the Battle of Trafalgar. There are more ancient trees in Worcestershire than anywhere else in the country and the largest tree is in Worcestershire being the Temple Oak at Hanbury with a girth of 11 m and in Great Whitley 12.9 m. There is a national tree database held by the historical, environment and archeological service.


People are being asked to become volunteers through Hartlebury Common Local Group to assist in the ancient tree project in Worcestershire.




Saturday 14th July 2007, Mike Southall and Michael Williams of Worcestershire Moths Group and HCLG lead a moths evening on Hartlebury Common. Meet at SO822704 Sandy Lane car park at 8.30 pm. Please bring a torch and warm clothes.


• Hartlebury Common Local Group joined forces with the Worcestershire Moths Group. Eight traps were set on the lower level and soon after dusk moths began to be caught. By the time I left at midnight several rarities know only to Hartlebury Common were identified including archer’s dart and garden grass veneer. Over one hundred different species were identified during the night including a new rare species for the common, rosy footman. It was really a wonderful evening enjoyed by all.



On Monday 16th April a discussion was held with group members lead by Joy M Rooney and Michael Williams on what everyone would like for future meetings and possible sightings of various species on the Common




• Tuesday 15 May 2007 at 8.00 pm Liz Appleton, Worcestershire Area Sites Officer, spoke on The Management of Hartlebury Common.
On 16th May 2007 Liz Nether nee Appleton spoke about Hartlebury Common heathland, woodland, grassland, recreational community, registered commoners and its importance as an ecological site of special scientific interest (SSSI).


The heathland is of national importance as a dry lowland water threatened habitat, particularly in the West Midlands. Heather species are present and under threat together with Comma butterfly and dwarf gorse. Common lizards can be found there and emperor moths. The woodland is naturally regenerated and in 1963 a wood was planted for timber which still remains as a feature for wildlife.. The wetland areas are home to a number of bird species, for example, mallard, sand snipe and moor hens. There are many rare visitors.

Three quarter of visitors come at least once a week and 95 per cent stay for more than two hours. Two thirds come to exercise their dogs with 200,000 visitors a week. Twenty five per cent come for the wildlife and scenery.


Football can be played by visiting families without goal posts on the Common and Commoners still hold rights to extract sand and gravel. However, the riding of any type of bike and quad bikes are banned from the Common. There are permitted routes for horses with a permit system. There are also grazing rights with tethered grazing.. There was a large signed petition about the importance of the Common as an archeological site and walks take place on this theme annually. The HERA report of 2006 classified that Hartlebury Common had three areas of importance heathland, archeological and wetlands. There are reports on the trees, necessity of cycle parking, Environmental Agency fly tipping, quadbikes and boundaries to name only a few. There are weekly litter and dog pooh collections financed by Worcestershire County Council and regular visits are made by the Rangers of the Countryside Service who are allowed to drive over the Common and Natural England representatives. There are too many areas of bare sand at present and some of the Common is overgrown. The heathland area needs to be more defined needs by 2010 and also so do the bog land areas. Hartlebury Common Local Group is planning much volunteer working from September 2007 and volunteers are most welcome to contact HCLG.



• Monday 12 March 2007 at 8.00 pm Paul Allen, Countryside Officer of Wyre Forest District Council spoke, supported by Adam Hamilton and a multimedial presentation on the conservation work they are undertaking on Burlish Top and Devil's Spittlefield Heathland Nature Reserves. These need aggressive management due to rapid regeneration of vegetation as the lowland heathland and acid grassland soils are more rich in minerals and nutrients compared to Hartlebury Common. The other Wyre Forest Nature Reserves at Blake Marsh, Spennells, Puxton Marsh, Hurcott Pool and Woodlands, Vicarage Farm, Habberley Valley and Riffle Range were also described. Much of the Rangers' work is also in educating local young people to respect their local Nature Reserves. They engage most primary and secondary school children in the area in conservation schemes thoughout the year and most particularly during the long Summer holidays.




• Tuesday 13 February 2007 at 8.00 pm Mike Southall of the Worcestershire Moths Group spoke and gave a multimedia presentation on Moths around Hartlebury. He also had some interesting Hartlebury Common archives as his family have farmed in Hartlebury for nearly 100 years. A report of this excellent and enthralling powerpoint presentation will be found in the April edition of Hartlebury Parish Magazine.




• Monday 8 January 2007 at 8.00 pm Alan Shepherd of the Worcestershire Amphibian and Lizard Group spoke on the Amphibia and Lizards of Worcestershire. It was a very interesting presentation with lots of slides on all aspects of the habitats, life history and behaviour of these groups of species together with how to manage and conserve them and threats to their continued survival in Worcestershire. There were lots of interesting facts and anecdotes. We will be having a field visit to Hartlebury Common in mid-May with clement weather to look for amphibia and reptiles, led by Alan Shepherd.
• On Monday 11 December at 8.00 pm at Worcestershire County Council Countryside Headquarters the Group discussed the application for Breathing Places The Big Lottery Fund.




• On Monday 13th November at 8.00 pm at Worcestershire County Countryside's headquarters in Wildwood Drive, Worcester (next to County Hall) Mr Dave Scott gave a very interesting talk on the Breeding Bird Survey since 1999. The greatest number of territories on the Common since 1999 are for robin, wren and warbler.
The Group was formalised with a constitution, Chair, Treasurer and Secretary.



• On Saturday 25 November at 10.00 there was a Fungus Foray lead by the Worcestershire Fungus Group. Despite the rain over the last few days the weather was dry and a wonderful time was had by all. We found more fungi on the Common than we expected for this time of year after frosts, around twenty different species.



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