Hartlebury Common Local Group - Reports of Meetings

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

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.



• Please fill in membership form to join Hartlebury Common Local Group:

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Last revised 9 November 2007
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