by Mike Smart
“The meadows of the Severn floodplain are of interest to naturalists for different reasons at different times of year. The suite of hay meadows at Ashleworth and Hasfield Hams, on the west bank of the Severn opposite Wainlodes Hill, have been recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Natural England for their wintering waterbirds and their ditch flora. Part of the site is a nature reserve purchased in the 1960s by the late Peter Duddridge (a former active member of GNS, who gifted the land to the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust – GWT), part is made up of land owned and farmed by the Hasfield estate and other landowners. The nature reserve can be conveniently surveyed from several hides overlooking the main reserve field along the road from Ashleworth to Tirley; other sections can be accessed by public footpaths.
“Winter visits to the Hams are conditioned by the state of flooding, which can often make the Ham Road impassable: autumn 2024 has started very wet, with one major flood in late September (during which the Severn broke its banks and flooded the whole of the area) and a second flood episode in mid-October; the latter has subsided during the dull anticyclonic weather of the last two weeks, so the area was easily accessible to the dozen or so GNS members who met on the morning of Saturday 9 November. Wintering ducks are very much a feature of both Ashleworth Ham and its sister GWT reserve at Coombe Hill on the east bank of the Severn, only three miles or so away as the duck flies. Recent studies by GNS members have shown that the ducks that winter in the Ashleworth and Coombe Hill sectors of the floodplain tend to stay on the spot once they arrive, moving round to other sites like Longdon Marsh in south Worcestershire if the floods become too deep for them to feed; there is little or no evidence to support the old theory that these ducks move between the floodplain and the Severn Estuary Special Protected Area. This year, many of the ducks moved to Longdon during the heavy flooding of September and October, but with subsiding water levels have moved back to the Gloucestershire sites. On 9 November, duck numbers on the wetland areas of the reserve were relatively low but will no doubt increase as the winter advances, as more birds arrive from breeding grounds in central and northern Europe: perhaps 60 Teal and 15 Wigeon, the latter coming from as far as western Siberia, as demonstrated by ringing recoveries. Other ducks present were about 100 noisy Mallard and a couple of Gadwall (probably locally bred). Four Little Grebes were of particular interest, inobtrusive divers, rarely seen in large numbers, and their presence something of a mystery; were they a family party that had bred on the spot and not been noticed (which seems a likely explanation)? Or were they incoming migrants from further afield? It was rather a surprise to find, on consulting the reference sources, that little is known about the migrations of this species; because it is so difficult to catch; only a tiny number have been ringed over the years, and there are very few ringing recoveries to show their movements – the BTO website mentions only 42 recoveries, which must be a record for a relatively common bird. The other noteworthy waterbird on the reserve was the equally discreet and inobtrusive Water Rail, which called from the vegetation.
“Another item of interest was the botany of the site. In November one would not of course expect to find flower-rich hay meadows in full bloom, but two plants, Trifid But-Marigold and Reed Canary-Grass, attracted members’ attention after a very wet spring and summer. Trifid Bur Marigold has a yellow flower and is attractive to pollinator insects; it flowers in autumn and has fiendishly designed seeds with hooks that catch onto any passing animal or the clothing of anyone rash enough to venture through a patch of it; their clothes become covered with these little seeds, which are difficult and tedious to remove and are the origin of the alternative name of Devil’s Beggarticks. The plant grows on bare ground and flowers in autumn; this year there are vast patches of it around many pools and ponds, so thick that it discourages wintering ducks that feed around the edges of the water. Reed Canary-Grass is the plant which replaces the Common Reed in this section of the hams: strange as it may seem, this area of the Severn floodplain is simply too wet for reeds, though they occur in other parts of the Severn Vale; reeds cannot survive the long periods of deep flooding which are regular here, so are replaced by Reed Canary Grass which invades the wetter meadows, and is not palatable to cattle, hence not appreciated by farmers.
“A walk through the footpaths crossing the Hams enabled the meeting to appreciate the flat landscape with long vistas and hedges dotted with willows and oaks. The willows were particularly fascinating because of the shapes into which they grow when pollarded – old, gnarled boles which provide nesting holes for Redstarts in spring, some of them with such a heavy load of fast-growing branches that the trees may crack under the weight, giving the name of Crack Willow; in times past the thick off-cuts were used as fence posts, thinner branches for making wattles to fence in cattle; other species of willow were grown in cultivated osier-beds (local name “persh”) and used and for basket-making. These older uses have vanished nowadays and cutting back the luxuriant growth is a real headache for land-owners; there must surely be some way the high fertility of these willows could be profitably used? At this time of year, there are no animals out in the wet meadows, too wet for arable crops, which is why traditional farming practices involve taking a late summer hay cut as the meadow vegetation develops, with cattle (and nowadays very often sheep) grazing the aftermath: a system which provides a wealth of interest from the ornithological and botanical point of view, not to mention support for a host of invertebrates like dragonflies.”