Scrubland

Re-reading an old copy of Birds magazine (RSPB) from 2008 I came across an article about 'Scrub' and the tendency to consider it unkempt, untidy and fit only for building homes on or prettying up to create parkland. What is 'scrub'?

"Scrub is rough and unplanned; scrub is unexpected... a tangle of bushes and thorns, nettle beds full of butterflies ...long grass growing through brambles and hawthorns... the first coltsfoot flowers before it is spring... the first willow warbler fresh in from Africa... the lesser whitethroat bursting into its rattling song from the blackthorn thicket... blackberries and elder bushes rich with fruit... hawthorn berries that attract flocks of fieldfares and redwings in winter..."

Scrub is a place of discovery and observation, full of the buzz of bees and the chirping of crickets, and overhead the calls of kite and buzzard. There are only a few patches of hawthorn scrub left on the Shanley land as it has mostly been torn out, leaving grasses and wild flowers to take over which they have done in abundance and rich diversity.  The grassland is a perfect habitat for insects, beetles, butterflies and bees but less so for nesting birds, large mammals like foxes and reptiles. 

Long live scrub!



Golden Rod, probably a garden escape

Common Fleabane



St John's Wort

 

Evening Primrose

 

 

 

Scentless Mayweed

 

 

Cricket

 

 

Large Skipper on Teasel

 

 

Bee on Field Scabious

 

 

Woolly Thistle and bee

 

 

Ladybirds on seed heads

 

 

Gatekeeper butterfly

 

 

Rose gall - nest of a gall wasp on wild rose

 

 

Everlasting Pea

 

 

Wild Thyme

 

 

Field Bindweed

 

 

 

The first blackberry is ripe and ready for eating

 

 

Wild apples ripening in the sun

 

 

View south from the top field towards Blows Down

 

Now go and see how many you can find.

Long Live Scrub!