周辺の天然記念物・トップ8

Incredibly muddy - wear wellies!

Bilberry Hill is one of the Lickey Hills southwest of Birmingham and northeast of Worcester. Positioned above the village of Cofton Hackett, it’s an integral part of the Lickey Hills Country Park. As part of the Lickey Ridge, composed of hard quartzite this spot offers stunning views over Birmingham and the surrounding countryside. The hill derives its name from the abundant tracts of Bilberry bushes (Vaccinium myrtillus) that occupy its slopes, providing locals with a tradition of harvesting their fruit each autumn for centuries to make jams, preserves, and delightful apple and bilberry pies.

A great place to visit and wide veiws

I can literally see my house from here

You are standing in front of Jubilee Plantation. This very distinctive hill top feature was planted in the mid seventies to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and to reflect the locally famous Frankley Beeches plantation on Frankley Hill. Most of the trees in the centre of the wood are common Beech. The Beech can be a spectacular tree in its prime with a crown which might span 30 metres (32 yards) more and a trunk which could be as much as 4-5 metres (12 - 15 feet) in circumference. There are few better things in the spring than standing in a beechwood and looking up into a canopy of fresh green leaves. By May most leaves will have opened fully. When a breeze catches them they seem to shiver and tremble. Beech trees are not as good for wildlife as say a mature Oak might be but they do produce large numbers of seeds or 'mast' each autumn. These seeds are of vital importance, not only as the means by which the tree spreads its offspring but also as a food source to preying flocks of finches during the cold winter months.

Chaddesley Woods were probably mentioned in the Domesday Book as the ‘wood of two leagues’ and we think that parts of the site have been wooded since the Ice Age 6-10,000 years ago.  The presence of ancient woodland indicator species support this – flowers such as yellow archangel, herb paris and dog’s mercury as well as trees like small-leaved lime and wild service trees. Visitors to the eastern half of the nature reserve will find themselves in ancient woodland that is predominantly mature oak with hazel coppice.  The understorey also contains holly, rowan and other berry-bearing shrubs that are popular with winter thrushes such as fieldfares.  Midland hawthorn thrives here – a rare shrub that is identified by the two seeds in its berries as opposed to the normal one.  Open glades are important for invertebrates and encourage shrubby growth, which provides nesting cover for birds.  Some old and dead oaks are retained for hole-nesting birds, fungi and invertebrates.  At the right time of year the wood is full of birdsong and lucky visitors may catch a glimpse of the elusive woodcock. There are also two areas of meadow, although these are only accessible on special open days.  Hockley Meadow and Black Meadow are old pastures with wildflowers such as knapweed, dyer’s greenweed, pepper saxifrage and adder’s-tongue fern.  The meadows are grazed to maintain their floral interest. The western half of the reserve is a largely planted woodland of broad-leaved species and extensive areas of conifer.  The conifers wouldn’t normally grow here and we’re gradually clearing these and replacing them with native hardwoods that are more suitable to the local geology and attract summer migrants like chiffchaff and blackcap.  Crossbills sometimes breed in the conifer plantations – their unusual beak structure of crossed tips allows them to feed on the seeds.  A Worcestershire speciality, land caddis, occurs at Chaddesley Woods.  A national rarity, this is the only one of almost two hundred species of caddis fly that spends its entire life-cycle on land.  It burrows in leaf litter and adults only live for a couple of weeks in autumn.

Just a short walk from the car park and easily the jewel in the Lickey crown.

The car park gates shut at dusk.