Sy V
Well-known member
For a change today I thought I'd renew my acquaintance with Beaconwood and the Winsel WWT Reserve which is at the end of the road where I live. The last time I went up it was late Summer Early Autumn and despite my best efforts I couldn't get a around the reserve due to losing the run of the path with dense undergrowth. Happily today the circuitous path was easy to follow and a very pleasant couple of hours was spent totally on my lonesome - not another soul to be seen - one of the best things about this reserve.
These beautiful woods in the Northern-most edge of Worcestershire are renowned for their stunning shows of bluebells each spring. I was very surprised and totally unprepared to see Bluebells already in flower!
The woods lie on the northwest spur of the Lickey Hills. Beaconwood was cleared and replanted with oaks about 120 years ago whereas plantations on the Winsel date from around 1930. Part of the National Trust’s Chadwich Estate.
Entering via an arched wrought iron gate from the public footpath off the old A38, you’ll walk up the forester’s track passing beech and turkey oaks with an understorey of holly. As you walk the trees become more varied with whitebeam, cherry, sweet chestnut and mature conifers on the north slope. The Great Oak, planted as the marker oak at the junction of three forestry compartments, is around 250 years old. Further along the track is the Great Elm a lone survivor of the 70's Dutch Elm disease.
The heavy leaf canopy and dense bracken provide ideal cover for a range of wildlife. Whilst WWT claim that Pied flycatchers, tawny and little owls, can be found in these woods, I'm yet to connect with any. Today I saw and heard 5 Buzzards, 4 Chiffchaffs, GSW, 3 Nuthatch and a plethora more common woodland birds.
Here are a few photos.
One of the few songsters that wasn't way up in the canopy.
Not at their best yet but I reckon this year's Bluebell show will be the dog's danglies. Another bonus to these woods is that there's a carpet of blue bells on both SW and NE-facing slopes so the period of bloom should be pretty extensive.
This little white flower had me thinking, and I'm still not certain. It has shamrock/clover-like leaves but its white flowers are bell-like. Is it Shamrock? This is the only clump (if you can call it that) that I saw.
And this spectacular but awful non-native is abundant along a stream that feeds the very silted over pond.
These beautiful woods in the Northern-most edge of Worcestershire are renowned for their stunning shows of bluebells each spring. I was very surprised and totally unprepared to see Bluebells already in flower!
The woods lie on the northwest spur of the Lickey Hills. Beaconwood was cleared and replanted with oaks about 120 years ago whereas plantations on the Winsel date from around 1930. Part of the National Trust’s Chadwich Estate.
Entering via an arched wrought iron gate from the public footpath off the old A38, you’ll walk up the forester’s track passing beech and turkey oaks with an understorey of holly. As you walk the trees become more varied with whitebeam, cherry, sweet chestnut and mature conifers on the north slope. The Great Oak, planted as the marker oak at the junction of three forestry compartments, is around 250 years old. Further along the track is the Great Elm a lone survivor of the 70's Dutch Elm disease.
The heavy leaf canopy and dense bracken provide ideal cover for a range of wildlife. Whilst WWT claim that Pied flycatchers, tawny and little owls, can be found in these woods, I'm yet to connect with any. Today I saw and heard 5 Buzzards, 4 Chiffchaffs, GSW, 3 Nuthatch and a plethora more common woodland birds.
Here are a few photos.
One of the few songsters that wasn't way up in the canopy.
Not at their best yet but I reckon this year's Bluebell show will be the dog's danglies. Another bonus to these woods is that there's a carpet of blue bells on both SW and NE-facing slopes so the period of bloom should be pretty extensive.
This little white flower had me thinking, and I'm still not certain. It has shamrock/clover-like leaves but its white flowers are bell-like. Is it Shamrock? This is the only clump (if you can call it that) that I saw.
And this spectacular but awful non-native is abundant along a stream that feeds the very silted over pond.