Our Reserve
We are very proud to have been able to acquire our Reserve which is on the edge of Elloughton. It provides an oasis of nature that residents in the area can easily access.
Take A Trip To Our Beautiful Reserve And Enjoy The Woodlands
The Reserve is on Brantingham Road, Elloughton starting at the corner of Spindlewood, HU15 1LL. There are entrances off Spindlewood – What Three Words ///shades.enrolling.equity – or further west before Brantingham Park, Hull Ionians Rugby Club site – What Three Words ///bathtubs.diplomats.tacky
For a better visual of our Reserve switch to satellite imagery on the left hand corner of the map.
the conservation, protection and improvements of the physical and natural environment
WARCS acquired the woods in 2005 and then added a smaller adjacent parcel in 2014 which we decided to manage as a wildflower meadow. Although the meadows can look entirely natural they need to be managed carefully, mowing annually and then clearing the cut foliage so that the meadow plants do not get crowded out by plants that thrive on good soil. Similarly we need to cut back plants that quickly invade land such as brambles.
The Wood
The wood consists of a wide variety of mature trees including oak, sycamore, Norway maple, ash and beech. Outstanding specimens include an oak that is around 300 years old and a beech at the west end of the wood around 250 years old.
Springtime woodland flowers include snowdrops, winter aconites, primroses, wild daffodils, bluebells, cyclamen, snakes head fritillary and wood anemones.
Over 100 species of fungi exist with a few of the larger varieties shown in the gallery.
Meadow
The meadow was originally sown with a traditional wildflower mix. Oxeye daisies and knapweed predominated in the early years.
In 2021, we started a new cutting regime similar to that practiced by farmers with traditional wildflower hay meadows and at the same time improved wildflower species diversity using plug plants grown from seed.
Examples of additional species include:
Agrimony, Field Scabious, Common Spotted Orchid, Betony, Rough Hawkbit, Clustered Bellflower, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Harebell, Sainfoin, Nettleleaf Bellflower, Wild Carrot, Cowslip, Selfheal, Vipers Bugloss, Yellow Rattle, Snakeshead Fritillary, Great Burnet, Lady’s Bedstraw, Red/White Campion, Meadow Cranesbill, Tufted vetch, Bluebells and Wild Daffodils.
Our Gallery gives a photogenic record of the plants, flowers and fungi in our Reserve.
