Why Ledbury Halt? Because this is where the town halt was on the GWR line (the building is now Shane Howells workshop).
It’s a long story…….but after many conversations, and support from Ledbury Naturalists, a ‘license to cultivate’ was granted to Ledbury Town Council to allow us to manage a strip of land we call Ledbury Halt Wildlife Garden (aka LHWG).
Our vision for the ‘garden’ is cultivate it to increase biodiversity, and to create a demonstration plot to engage Ledbury’s community, thereby raising awareness of how we can increase biodiversity in our private gardens. In Britain these cover over 660,000 acres and could foster wildlife if we were less tidy, stopped using ‘chemicals’, used peat alternatives and planted wildlife-useful plants. This would help link green spaces in towns and urban areas together, and with nature reserves and the wider countryside.
Ledbury Halt is very much a work in progress, as we strive towards improving it and transforming it from ‘looking messy’ to organised chaos, into a wildlife haven! Grass is vital for many invertebrates, and other species, so we will not be eliminating it, but copious yellow rattle seed has been sown that we expect to stunt it to let other plants flourish.
We have planted a lot of both native and non-native species, all with wildlife value; we have built habitat piles/compost bins; cut back brambles, where needed; snipped, weeded, chopped, dug, swept, got wet, hot and engaged with passers by.
We entered the LHWG in the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ section of Heart of England in Bloom and were placed in the Level 2 ‘improving’ category after one season’s effort.
Pupils were invited from Ledbury Primary School to help plant, to help site a hedgehog house and to take part in some environmental activities. They enjoyed it very much, and most said they “wished they could do more of this at school”. We hope we can continue the connection we have made with them. As Sir David Attenborough says: “No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced”.
We held a public mini-bioblitz in August 2022, and Tim Kaye, from Hidden Herefordshire came to give support in identifying many of the species; a list is attached below. We aim to repeat this in spring 2023, and to reproduce the survey in private gardens in Ledbury as and when we can.
This is but a snapshot of LHWG that takes time and people-power, so if you’d like to come along on any second Wednesday of the month, we would be very glad to see you (you don’t need to be a Ledbury Naturalists’ member as this is primarily a community-based project). Just turn up or contact us via Facebook Biodiversity for Ledbury; or email Ledbury Naturalists at admin@ledburynaturalists.co.uk and they will pass on your enquiry. Our ambition is to develop more projects to help increase biodiversity in Ledbury. It is a win-win endeavour in which all can participate.
| Plants | |
| Achillea millefolium | Yarrow |
| Alcea rosea | Hollyhock |
| Anchusa arvensis | Bugloss |
| Anchusa officinalis | Alkanet |
| Aster novi-belgii x lanceolatus = A. x salignus | Common Michaelmas-daisy |
| Betula pendula | Silver birch |
| Buddleia davidii | Butterfly-bush |
| Calystegia sepium | Hedge bindweed |
| Centaurea nigra subsp. nigra | Common knapweed |
| Chaerophyllum temulum | Rough chervil |
| Chamerion angustifolium | Rosebay willowherb |
| Chelidonium majus | Greater celandine |
| Cirsium palustre | Marsh thistle |
| Cirsium vulgare | Spear thistle |
| Corylus avellana | Hazel |
| Crataegus monogyna | Hawthorn |
| Daucus carota | Wild carrot |
| Dipsacus fullonum | Wild teasel |
| Epilobium hirsutum | Great willowherb |
| Fraxinus excelsior | Ash |
| Galium aparine | Cleavers |
| Hedera helix | Ivy |
| Humulus lupulus | Hop |
| Iris foetidissima | Stinking iris |
| Lamium album | White deadnettle |
| Lamium purpureum | Red deadnettle |
| Lapsana communis | Nipplewort |
| Leucanthemum vulgare | Oxeye daisy |
| Malva sylvestris | Common mallow |
| Melissa officinalis | Balm |
| Mesembryanthemum crystallinum | Common iceplant |
| Mycelis muralis | Wall Lettuce |
| Nigella damascena | Love-in-a-mist |
| Picris echioides | Bristly oxtongue |
| Rhinanthus minor | Yellow-rattle |
| Ribes nigrum | Blackcurrant |
| Rubus fruticosus agg. | Bramble |
| Rumex obtusifolius | Broad-leaved dock |
| Salvia verbenaca | Wild clary |
| Sambucus nigra | Elder |
| Scorzoneroides autumnalis | Autumn hawkbit |
| Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel |
| Silene dioica | Red campion |
| Sonchus oleraceus | Smooth sow-thistle |
| Sorbus aucuparia | Rowan |
| Stachys sylvatica | Hedge woundwort |
| Tanacetum vulgare | Tansy |
| Taraxacum officinale agg. | Dandelion |
| Urtica dioica | Common nettle |
| Verbena bonariensis | Argentinian vervain |
| True bugs | |
| Anthocoris nemorum | Common flower bug |
| Dolycoris baccarum | Hairy shield bug |
| Eurydema (Eurydema) oleracea | Cabbage bug |
| Himacerus (Aptus) mirmicoides | Ant damsel bug |
| Liocoris tripustulatus | |
| Rhopalus (Rhopalus) subrufus | |
| Tuberolachnus (Tuberolachnus) salignus | Large willow aphid |
| Bees wasps and ants | |
| Apis mellifera | Western honey bee |
| Bombus pascuorum | Common carder bee |
| Bombus terrestris | Buff-tailed bumblebee |
| Colletes hederae | Ivy bee |
| Vespula vulgaris | Common wasp |
| Spiders | |
| Araneus diadematus | Garden orb-web spider |
| Nigma walckenaeri | |
| Flies | |
| Arge rustica | |
| Chlorops scalaris | |
| Eristalis tenax | |
| Eupeodes luniger | |
| Lucilia caesar | Common greenbottle |
| Grasshoppers and allies | |
| Chorthippus brunneus | Field grasshopper |
| Forficula auricularia | Common earwig |
| Lacewings | |
| Chrysoperla carnea group | |
| Beetles | |
| Phyllotreta cruciferae | Turnip flea beetle |
| Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata | 22-spot ladybird |
| Pterostichus madidus | Black clock |
| Butterflies and moths | |
| Pieris brassicae | Large white |
| Vanessa atalanta | Red admiral |
| Molluscs | |
| Cepaea (Cepaea) hortensis | White-lipped snail |
| Cornu aspersum | Common garden snail |
| Birds | |
| Columba palumbus | Wood pigeon |
| Corvus corone | Carrion crow |
| Erithacus rubecula | Robin |
| Passer domesticus | House sparrow |