At very short notice, because of the illness of the
advertised speaker, Garth Lowe gave the Malvern Group an interesting talk on
our much loved local nature reserve, the Knapp and Papermill at Alfrick.
Garth has lived near the Knapp all his life, and was once
the warden, so he knows every inch of it as if it were his own back garden. The
Leigh Brook runs through the reserve and floods from time to time, in 2007 so
severely that a bridge and the bird hides were swept away and banks needed
major repair work. Volunteers regularly help to manage the reserve with
whatever maintenance work is needed. Very recently a new study centre has been
built near the warden’s house at the entrance, complete with a purpose built
bat loft – let's hope it is soon occupied.
Garth regaled us with pictures of the wealth of wildlife he
has seen at the Knapp. If you visit you're likely to see many of the
common birds - long-tailed tits, nuthatches, treecreepers,
great spotted and green woodpeckers, buzzards and perhaps a sparrowhawk.
Garth has unfortunately noticed a decline in some species, including marsh tits,
bullfinches, pied flycatchers and spotted flycatchers. The kingfishers still
nest in the river bank, although the location has changed. The moorhens have
gone, probably because of predation by mink.
The flowers are spectacular,
especially during spring in Big Meadow, which is full of hawkbits, oxeye
daisies, yellow rattle and several species of orchid. Surprisingly, a Southern
Marsh orchid appeared a few years ago and has now hybridised with the
common spotted orchids. Butterflies appear on sunny days – holly blue, comma,
red and white admiral, speckled wood, to name a few, but the numbers of
small tortoiseshell are declining.
The 70 bird boxes in the
reserve are used by birds, bees, hornets and even dormice!
There are two badger setts and the ponds are full of frogs, newts and
sticklebacks. Otters are present but rarely seen.
The next meeting will be on September 6
th when
Patrick Clement will talk about the Magic of Moths. There's a summer full of events - take a look at our website
http://malverngroup.btck.co.uk/
Alison, Malvern Local Group
Last Sunday, I was at Knapp & Papermill
Reserve for the monthly work party. A lovely hot day, it was perfect weather
for photography so I snapped a few shots of the gorgeous green winged orchids.
They are looking beautiful in Big Meadow at the moment so worth checking out if
you have time! 
Oh, and I did quite a lot of volunteer work whilst I was
there as well. :) 
