Walk in the Woodland
Fell View entrance
Mitton Road entrance
Whalley Moor Woodland
As you enter the woodland from both Mitton Road and Fell View entrances, there is large signage indicating some of the different plants and birds which you might see in the woodland. How many can you spot?
If we can identity plants and trees, we can find out more about what goes on in these woods. Count how many you identify.
We have some useful links to follow:
This guide uses buds and bark.
There are other ways - using twigs, try and find 12 of these in the woodland:-
Following the paths (from Fell Road entrance) - Centre, Left and Cuttings
Entering the woodland from Fell Road, there is a stand of Hazel trees on the right.
The bark is a distinguishing feature, the banding being horizontal and a mottled white/grey in dry weather. The twigs carry catkins from early in the year.
Hazel is so bendy in Spring that it can be tied in a knot without breaking. There are over 70 insects associated with hazel trees and it provides food for moth caterpillars.
Try and remember this tree as you will see stands of it in several places through the woodland, where you may find nuts in autumn.
Measure your chosen tree. Take a measurement 1 metre from the ground, put your tape measure around the trunk - what is the circumference of your chosen tree? Can you work out the diameter?
How do you work out the age of the trees?
Can you identify some of these plants below?
Hedge Woundwort
Hedge Woundwort is a common, perhaps unremarkable, plant with one defining feature - its unpleasant and astringent smell. This smell is particularly apparent when the plant is crushed. Magenta flowers appear between June and October and are pollinated by bees. Once the seed is dispersed, the plant spreads vigorously using its underground rhizomes (stems).
Purple Loostrife
Purple loosestrife can be found in wet habitats such as reedbeds, fens, marshes and riverbanks, where its impressive spikes of magenta flowers rise up among the grasses. Many tall stems can grow from a single root stock. It flowers between June and August when its nectar becomes a valuable food source for long-tongued insects like bees, moths and butterflies, including Brimstones, Red-tailed Bumblebees and Elephant Hawk-moths.
Rosemary Willow Herb
The tall, pink flower spikes of Rosebay Willowherb can often be seen crowding together in thick stands in open spaces such as woodland clearings, roadside verges, grassland and waste ground. A successful coloniser, Rosebay Willowherb has grown in number from a scarce woodland plant to a ubiquitous flower. This expansion occurred as a result of two World Wars clearing huge areas of forest and burning the ground in both town and countryside - just the right conditions for this plant to thrive in.