Gwen and Vera's Fields

Gwen and Vera's Fields (grid reference SO696277) is a 0.28-hectare (0.69-acre) nature reserve in Gloucestershire.[1]

Gwen and Vera's Fields
Typical flowering of wild daffodil and wood anemone (Dymock Woods)
Gwen and Vera's Fields shown within Gloucestershire
TypeGloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve
LocationIn the Forest of Dean district, north-west of Newent
Coordinates51°56′48.3″N 02°26′36.4″W
Area0.7 acres (0.28 ha)
Created1987
Operated byGloucestershire Wildlife Trust
StatusView from entrance gates only (requested non entry to reserve)

The site, which consists of two separate fields, is owned and managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. It was purchased by the trust in 1987 with funding help from an anonymous donor.[1][2] The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).[3]

Location and history

The site is located about two miles north-west of Newent and is to the south of Greenaway's Wood. Both lie to the south of Betty Daw's Wood, which is part of Dymock Woods SSSI. Greenaway's Wood bank is the northern boundary of the nature reserve.[1]

The two fields were owned by the Forestry Commission and records show this ownership was from the 1920s. The narrow strip of land formed part of a holding of Wain Cottage which adjoined the fields. The fields were pasture and orchard. Both fields have old apple, plum and pear trees. The soil is damp, loamy clay.[1]

Flora and fauna

Gwen and Vera's Fields support an abundant population of wild daffodils amongst other species. wood anemones are also abundant, moving into the fields from the adjacent woodland. Other flowering plants include cowslip, common knapweed, oxeye daisy, perforate St John's-wort, wild angelica and meadowsweet. Meadow saffron is recorded for the west field as well as common spotted orchid.[1]

Being adjacent to woodland, plants of the woodland varieties grow along the fields edges, such as barren strawberry, wood spurge and wood avens, with various ferns. The woodland trees include oak, wild cherry and field maple.[1]

Hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose, bramble, goat willow and ash form hedges between the reserve and the road.[1]

Bird life in the woodland edge includes nuthatch, chiffchaff and blackcap.[1]

Wild Daffodil Trail

The Wild Daffodil Trail is a selection of walks which incorporate a number of nature reserves. These have spectacular displays of wild daffodils and include Gwen and Vera's Fields, Betty Daw's Wood (which is part of Dymock Woods SSSI), Ketford Bank and Vell Mill Daffodil Meadow.[2]

One walk is the Dymock to Ketford walk which includes Vell Mill Meadow, Callow Farm conservation walk area and Ketford Bank (about 8 miles). Another walk includes Betty Daw's Wood and Gwen and Vera's Fields (about 2 miles).[2]

Threat to species

The threats to the wild daffodil are numerous and include fragmentation of sites and the neglect of their required habitat, and the issue of the invasion of non-native species.[2] Ploughing and the use of chemical fertilisers have also contributed to their loss.[1]

Conservation

The fields are traditionally managed by a summer hay cut and then grazed by sheep. This ensures control of high growth and supports the spread of wildflowers.[1]

Publications
  • Kelham, A, Sanderson, J, Doe, J, Edgeley-Smith, M, et al., 1979, 1990, 2002 editions, 'Nature Reserves of the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation/Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust'
  • ‘Nature Reserve Guide – discover the wild Gloucestershire on your doorstep’ - 50th Anniversary, January 2011, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
  • 'The Daffodil Trails', (undated), Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
gollark: Lazy loading doesn't stop it from using lots of RAM. They just programmed it poorly, I guess.
gollark: I run Discord in the browser, personally, to mildly reduce RAM use and data gathering, and use old reddit because new reddit is just terrible.
gollark: I've not heard of that, but that's !!FUN!! too!
gollark: It's really irritating that the web has reached a state where we only have something like two different browser engines, they contain horrendously complex and vast amounts of code which new projects probably can't replicate, websites regularly use hundreds of megabytes of RAM for some reason, and a bunch of "desktop" apps effectively just ship an entire copy of Chrome to run in.
gollark: I find Firefox's inter-device syncing and password manager pretty nice, but most browsers do that anyway now.

References
  1. Kelham, A, Sanderson, J, Doe, J, Edgeley-Smith, M, et al., 1979, 1990, 2002 editions, 'Nature Reserves of the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation/Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust'
  2. 'The Daffodil Trails', (undated), Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
  3. Forest of Dean District Local Plan Review, adopted November 2005, Appendix D 'Nature Conservation Site Designations Within the Forest of Dean District', Key Wildlife Sites


  • Daffodil Way Trail
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.