This walk was led by Russell Parry. He has written the following report with additions by Peter Smith.
Castle Hill Country Park is a fairly recent addition to the City of Leicester’s green spaces. Part of its function may be to shelter nearby housing estates from the constant traffic noise of the A46 dual carriageway which slices its way through the entire park. There was never a castle here but some earthworks at the top of the park mark the outline of a former monastic grange that belonged to the Knights Hospitaller. On our visit, they were hard to discern beneath a sea of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) in full flower.
The meeting’s focus was to discover how the site had changed from farmland. There has been much planting of copses, including a plantation rather close to the impressively aged ‘Great Oak’, which is developing the ‘stag’s-horn’ appearance one might expect of an approximately 300-year-old Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur). Between these copses are expansive grasslands, which must have been ‘improved’, and are now slowly beginning to increase in diversity, although this will probably not receive the ‘cut and collect’ treatment needed to achieve their full biodiversity potential.
A meadow to the north-east of King William’s Bridge was probably landscaped during the construction of the A46, and has some diversity developing on its steeper slopes. The bark of a young Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) at the meadow’s south-western end was liberally coated with the Asterisk Lichen (Arthonia radiata). Sadly the very dry Spring had severely reduced the water levels in the three ponds at the north-east of this meadow, but the group still enjoyed watching both male and female Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies (Libellula depressa). It was also good to find here a colony of Meadow Rue (Thalictrum flavum) although this may well have been planted.
Adder's Tongue Fern (Ophioglossum vulgatum) (Photo: Peter Smith)
Grass Vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia) (Photo: Dave Nicholls)
One of the botanical highlights of the meeting was to re-find the Adder’s-tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum) which had only been discovered a month beforehand by member Isabel Raval. This was in a damp meadow close by the Rothley Brook, and certainly indicates a lack of ‘improvement’ to this particular area of previous pasture. And the other botanical highlight was Peter Smith’s spotting of a reasonable sized colony of Grass Vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia) in fairly short grass by the path leading from the underpass to an area marked “Fish Pond” on the OS map. Fortunately there was clear evidence of ‘scub bashing’ here.
Green Drake mayfly (Ephemera danica) (Photo: Dave Nicholls)
Sawfly (Allantus cingulatus) (Photo: Hazel Graves)
As expected at this time of year, there were many other invertebrates in evidence. Here is just a selection – mostly recorded by Dave Nicholls – to demonstrate the range of groups seen: Common Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis); the soldier beetle (Cantharis livida); the bug (Rhopalus subrufus); Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni); Cocksfoot moth (Glyphipterix simpliciella); Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens); a Legionnaire fly (Beris chalybata); the Footballer hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus); Green Drake mayfly (Ephemera danica); the sawfly (Allantus cingulatus); Great Pond Snail (Lymnaea stagnalis) and Oak-apple gall (Biorhiza pallida f. sexual). Although birdlife was not a major feature of this walk, we were pleased to hear the songs of Whitethroat (Curruca communis) and a probable Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin).
A full report will be published in the next newsletter, which is available to members.
(Photo at top: Peter Smith)
