Introduction
The evening visit to the Reserve on 13th May was the first since 17th May 2022. It took place after an exceptionally sunny and dry March and April, and for our visit the sunshine continued. Some 25 members and 1 visitor participated.
The event started with a brief history of the Reserve which was established in 1979, initially managed by BBOWT, before the Parks Trust took over ownership and management in the early 1990s (click here for more information about the site). A Species Checklist including habitat areas for plants was distributed to participants, the listed being based on the 2022 visit report and the recce undertaken with Jenny Mercer. The Leader thanked Jenny and the three members who had agreed to list species during the event: Martin Ferns Plants, Mervyn Dobbin Birds, and Linda Murphy Invertebrates.
Plant Species and their Habitats
The circular route from the car park was anti-clockwise and our first stopping point was at the edge of one of the ponds where we were able to see Yellow Iris at the bankside just coming into flower and Water Plantain growing within the water (thank you Charles Kessler for providing the correct identification). The route then followed the woodland strip along the periphery of the Reserve and parallel to the noisy A5. At the entry to this woodland we stopped to look down from a bridge to a dried-up watercourse where the distinctive leaves of Gypsywort were showing well. Our next pause was at the site once occupied by the now demolished east side hide. Celery-leaved Buttercup was an interesting addition to the plants listed in 2022 as was Annual Wall Rocket. There was no sign of the 2022 listed Nettle-leaved Bellflower.
Celery-Leaved Buttercup (Photo©Bob Phillips)
The next stop was at the Meadow Strip in the shadow of the A5 viaduct over the Ouse floodplain. The planting is a legacy of the time when the reserve was managed by BBOWT and is a good example of how meadow biodiversity can be achieved through intervention in a comparatively short period of time. Amongst the plants In flower were Bulbous and Meadow Buttercup, Common Vetch, Meadow Cranesbill, Common Birds-foot Trefoil, Cow Parsley and one of the small difficult to identify Speedwell species with Great Knapweed, Lady’s Bedstraw, and Yellow Rattle to flower soon. There was no sign of Ragged Robin seen previously perhaps because of the unusually dry conditions.
The bank of the River Ouse offered another change in habitat but before moving off many members had good views of newly emerged Mayflies flying back and forth over the water (to learn more about Mayflies there is a short account from Mike Le Roy on the Wildlife news page on Society’s website. Click here to access it). The river is lined with trees and shrubs including Willow sp. such as Goat, Crack and the commercially grown Cricket Bat Willow. Shrubs included Spindle which was infested by Ermine Moth caterpillars stripping its leaves. This is a widespread problem this year with Bird Cherry also being infested in this way with many of the younger specimens likely to die. A few herbaceous plants were in flower including a White Comfrey sp, White Dead Nettle, Yellow Iris plus some unidentified Sedge species. Other species had to be identified by leaves alone for example, Meadowsweet, Greater Burdock, and Great Willow Herb. Hemlock and Water Figwort identification was based on dead plant stems and seed heads from last year.
Ermine moth caterpillars (Photo©Julian Lambley)
After leaving the riverside we followed the long strip of woodland parallel to Queen Eleanor Street. This brought a surprise sighting by Julian Lambley – Three-cornered Garlic not previously listed here. This is a non-native invasive species which we have reported to the Parks Trust which, as owner of the land, is responsible for preventing the species from spreading. It is not recorded in the publication ‘Milton Keynes More Than Concrete Cows’ published in 2000 and In the ‘A Checklist of the Plants of Buckinghamshire’ published by the Society in 2005 and authored by Roy Maycock and Aaron Woods it is described as ‘Very Rare’. Its spread northwards has clearly been fairly rapid.
Three Cornered Garlic (Photo©Julian Lambley)
Our circular route ended with the small meadow to the side of the entrance road. This is the only part of the reserve that has survived the gravel extraction of the early 1970s and was still in use as a horse paddock up to about 1980. This makes it important in its own right but also as the habitat for Meadow Saxifrage which we found in flower in several small patches competing with the surrounding grasses, Meadow Buttercup, Cow Parsley. and Red Clover: it is found in only one other location in Milton Keynes. Hidden away to the side of the grass path we were also able to identify Field Wood-Rush but we were unable to find Bush Vetch and Yellow Rattle which had been listed in flower in 2022.
Other Species
During the tour round the site several bird species were added to the 2022 list including four species of Warbler: Garden, Cetti’s, Reed, and Sedge. Absent on this visit were Common Tern, Oyster Catcher, Coot, Moorhen, and Cuckoo. Two Lapwings were the only potential island nesting birds seen and these were busy mobbing a threatening Fox. The island itself is overgrown so less attractive to pebble surface ground nesters and the Tern platform has been removed. It seems likely that this reduction of species is the result of predation with otters, foxes, crows, and raptors all known to be in the vicinity. Just four species of Invertebrates were seen, not unsurprising for an evening visit (for details see Checklist here).
Joe Clinch, Visit Leader