THE BCH ARCHIVE
LOCAL HISTORY FOR
BIRTSMORTON
CASTLEMORTON
HOLLYBUSH
And The Surrounding District
CASTLEMORTON COMMON GUIDEBOOK
3. Flora and Fauna
The vegetation of the common varies greatly, depending
on how wet the soil is, the aspect and steepness of the
slopes, how heavily it is grazed or used by tourists,
whether it was ploughed during the war, or dug for
gravel etc. A large part of the Welland end of the
common has been declared as an SSSI (Site of Special
Scientific Interest), mainly because of the many rare-
plants. There are at least 200 varieties including
tubular water dropwort, lousewort, petty whim, heather
and carline thistle, as well as the commoner sorts
such as bluebell and primrose.
The fauna of the hills and common is also very varied,
and many insects, butterflies and beetles etc, which
are generally rare in the West Midlands, are found
here.
Birds are well represented, with species ranging from
Hawfinch and Bullfinch to those more common on the
moorlands of Wales - Stonechat, Whinchat, Ring Ousel
and Uheatear, and rarities such as the Hoopoe, the
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, the Woodcock and the Red-
backed Shrike have been seen here. The wetter areas
provide one of the most northerly breeding-grounds of
the Grasshopper Warbler, and Herons, Kingfishers and
various waterfowl are occasional visitors.
Grass snakes are common, as are slow-worms, and adders
are found more rarely towards the hills.
Amphibians are lucky in that the common provides a
large area which is unpolluted by pesticides,
herbicides or excess fertiliser, and most species of
frogs and toads occur here, as well as newts -
(especially Great Crested Newts, which are becoming
rare in the country as a whole).
Amongst the mammals which are found here, as well as
the common rabbits, hares, foxes, badgers, stoats and
weasels etc, we have the unwelcome mink and grey
squirrel, and the odd escapee red deer from Eastnor
Park. It may be of interest to note that the Yellow-
necked Woodmouse has strong populations here, and that
there are reports of an animal which only fits the
description of the Edible Dormouse! '
The streams and pools have various types of fish, such
Groups of anthills prove a very special habitat, with
particular plants growing closely upon them eg wild
thyme which show as pinky-purple humps amongst the
taller grasses of the flat common. Even wild orchids
and wild daffodils can be found if you know where and
when to look!
Grasses are tremendously varied and a walk from the Welland boundary, following the course of the stream
towards the Gullet, always yields an interesting
collection. Fungi also abound, with almost 100 species
being recorded to date. Amongst the taller plants,
gorse is the most obvious and has become a problem in
recent years because it tends to smother all the
smaller plants as it spreads due to lack of grazing.
Of great interest is the presence of about 60 black
poplars, mostly pollarded. This tree is now rare in
Britain, and Castlemorton Common has probably the best
collection left. They are usually found in small
groups near dwellings, as they were formerly used for
many purpose by the commoners. By pollarding them, ie
cutting of the stem at about chest height, a whole
clutch of straight branches is produced, and by having
a group of them, often round a pond as at Mount
Pleasant and up towards the Gullet, it was possible to
leave some to grow bigger, giving poles of different
sizes.
The young branches were used for rough basketry, the
older ones for fence poles, for splitting to use in
wattle and daub walls, or for ladders etc. The biggest, from tjhe oldest trees, produced a renewable source of fuel.
The Malvern Hills Conservators (the body which manages the hills) has recently taken steps to propagate some of these trees, to ensure thier continued survival. A very fine specmen of Black Poplar stands on the common in front of Hollybush Church.
The fauna of the hills and common is also very varied,
and many insects, butterflies and beetles etc, which
are generally rare in the West Midlands, are found
here.
Birds are well represented, with species ranging from
Hawfinch and Bullfinch to those more common on the
moorlands of Wales — Stonechat, Whinchat, Ring Ousel
and Wheatear, and rarities such as the Hoopoe, the
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, the Woodcock and the Red-
backed Shrike have been seen here. The wetter areas
provide one of the most northerly breeding-grounds of
the Grasshopper Warbler, and Herons, Kingfishers and
various waterfowl are occasional visitors.
Grass snakes are common, as are slow-worms, and adders
are found more rarely towards the hills.
Amphibians are lucky in that the common provides a
large area which is unpolluted by pesticides,
herbicides or excess fertiliser, and most species of
frogs and toads occur here, as well as newts -
(especially Great Crested Newts, which are becoming
rare in the country as a whole).
Amongst the mammals which are found here, as well as
the common rabbits, hares, foxes, badgers, stoats and
weasels etc, we have the unwelcome mink and grey
squirrel, and the odd escapee red deer from Eastnor
Park. It may be of interest to note that the Yellow-
necked Woodmouse has strong populations here, and that
there are reports of an animal which only fits the
description of the Edible Dormouse! ‘
The streams and pools have various types of fish, such
as trout, carp, stone-loach and sticklebacks, and
rhoughout the whole comon, slugs, snails, spiders and
other groups of animals exist in numbers, including
some rarities.
So it can be seen that this area, together with the
Malvern Hills, provides a very important haven for many
kinds of plante and animals which have become scarce on
the CUlll'¢Lud land, where ploughing, draining, re-
seeding, fertilising, spraying and all the other things
that are done to the land, have eliminated many of the
old species, which developed in a differcit set of
conditions.
It is to be hoped that it will be possible to maintain
the common, in a similar condition, into the future so
that it can form a reservoir of wildlife, as the
farmland around it changes.
By Med Snookes
A handbook for Locals and Visitors