‘Business as Usual’ for Derwent Reservoir’s Grassland Plants
Derwent Reservoir, the second largest reservoir in the North East, boasts a spectacular assemblage of plants across a diverse range of habitats surrounding its banks.
Two Little Owl chicks sitting on a branch. Credit: Hilary Chambers
Derwent Reservoir, the second largest reservoir in the North East, boasts a spectacular assemblage of plants across a diverse range of habitats surrounding its banks.
Our Heart of Durham volunteer team spent a day improving access to nature for visitors to Derwent Reservoir bird hide.
Flower-rich grasslands, full of wildflowers such as orchids, snake's head fritillaries and bird's-foot trefoil support an abundance of insects, from bumblebees to butterflies.
This is a strange, sparse habitat of grassland growing on old mining tracks and slag heaps, on river gravels and naturally exposed metal-rich soils in the mountains. Only the toughest metal-loving…
Limited in distribution, this sweetly-scented, short-cropped, springy grassland is famed for its abundance of rare and scarce species.
Typical of softly rolling pastoral landscapes, the short, aromatic turf of lowland calcareous grassland is flower-rich and humming with insects in the summer. Its long use by humans lends it an…
An unimproved area of limestone grassland with an a wonderful array of floral species
Sprinkled with diminutive, short-living flowers in spring and parched dry by July, this is a habitat of heathlands, coastal grasslands and ancient parkland.