January 2009
The small field adjacent to the main meadow has not received much management over the years except for boundary hedge planting. On its west side, the brook is eroding the bank away and on the east the brambles have been slowly encroaching, so work has begun on taking most of the brambles out. This will allow access and light to the old meanders that have been hidden from view and which still hold water for part of the year. The value of the nature reserve is in its wetland habitats more than any other and since brambles are a widespread “species” they are not a valuable asset (except in the autumn when replete with juicy berries!). Species is in inverted commas above, because there are actually 325 named microspecies in the genus Rubus. There is a common species of moth the Bramble-shoot Moth (Epiblemma uddmanniana), the larva of which, “mines” the interior of the leaf in a characteristic wending way, before it pupates and flies off to find a mate in June/July.