A Guide to Warton Crag Nature Reserves How to get to Warton Crag CUMBRIA Warton Crag is easily accessible by public transport with a railway station at and a regular bus service through Warton village. For information on rail services contact National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 or visit their website at www.nationalrail.co.uk

For information on bus services Warton Crag contact Traveline on 0871 200 163m 2233 or visit their website at Warton Crag www.traveline.org.uk Nature Reserves P P

Warton

This leaflet is produced by AONB on behalf of Warton Crag Advisory Group with funding from the AONB, Heritage Lottery Fund, British Mountaineering Council, RSPB and the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and N. Merseyside. Carnforth Station Arnside and Silverdale AONB, Front cover Beacon Breast, Warton Crag. Old Station Building, Arnside, Photo credits: Tony Riden, David Moreton, Carnforth, LA5 0HG. Simon Hawtin, Phillip Tomkinson, Margaret Tel: 01524 761034 Breaks and Cliff Raby. Email: [email protected] www.arnsidesilverdaleaonb.org.uk

BMC on paper from a sustainable source Printed Designed by Capra Design, Kendal. Welcome to Warton Crag Warton Crag is a prominent limestone hill in the DANGER Please do not risk going Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) near high quarry faces or cliffs, avoid unstable scree slopes and beware that wet rock and paths can be very slippery.

Use this guide to help you explore this special place, discover hidden corners Be Safe - and learn to recognise some of its important features and distinctive wildlife. Plan ahead Warton Crag is managed as a nature reserve and has a network of paths for and follow walkers. The four owners cooperate to manage the area for people and wildlife. the signs Keep dogs under close In the surrounding landscape, look for… Did you know…? control ● the estuary ● Warton is derived from Consider Old English weard ● the intertidal expanse of other people Bay to the south and west (watch or look-out) and tun (farmstead) ● Caton Moor (with wind turbines), Clougha and crag from Celtic Leave gates and Hawthornthwaite in the Forest of crug (hill or mound). and property Bowland AONB to the south-east and ● Warton Crag is a limestone as you find in the Yorkshire Dales them National Park to the east hill, 163 metres high, making it the highest point in the Arnside and Silverdale AONB.

● Warton Crag is home to species of plants found Protect in both Arctic and Mediterranean environments. plants and ● Warton Crag is nationally protected as a Site of animals, Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Four organisations and take own and manage different parts of the Crag: your litter View to Arnside Knott and Lakeland Fells the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), home the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Lancaster City ● the fells of the Lake District National Council and Lancashire County Council. ©Aardman Animations Ltd 2004 River Keer Estuary Park to the north from the summit 2 3 Maidenhair spleenwort and Wall pepper Limestone scar Cinnabar Moth and caterpillars on Ragwort Hart’s-tongue fern

A Limestone Landscape Look out for… Ridges, scars, screes and grasslands ● ant-hill mounds formed by colonies of Yellow Meadow Ants, The Limestone rock has been eroded to form natural cliffs and scars which need sunny open grasslands stepping up the hillside. Weathered and shattered rock has fallen to survive. Notice how the taller and lies as scree at the base of the scars. and therefore older ones have a steep slope on the north and a long Soils shallow slope on the south in order to gather maximum heat. A thin, dry lime-rich soil low in nutrients In contrast, the limestone rock on the larger called rendzina developed on the rocky terraces is buried under deeper brown-earth ● a variety of small herbs cultivated ledges and ridges above the scars and soils derived from plants such as bracken. on the ant-hills by the ants. forms a rare habitat of calcareous grassland. These developed on top of and alongside Only plants such as Rockrose, that acid, silty material known as loess which are specially adapted, can grow in these was transported by winds and deposited drought-stressed and infertile conditions, in the post-glacial period. putting down deep roots to find water and growing only small leaves to minimise water-loss. Invertebrates such as butterflies use these plants for nectar or food for their caterpillars. Look out for… ● plants such as Heather and Wood Look out for… Anemone which grow in the fine, ● nectaring insects such as this silty acidic soil known as loess which Dingy Skipper lies among the limestone terraces. This was carried here thousands of years ago by winds and deposited onto the Crag in post glacial times. It provides a variation in the soils ● seed heads of that allows both lime-loving and wildflowers such acidic-loving plants to grow in as this Carline close proximity. Thistle

4 5 Water worn limestone pavement Barred Tooth-striped moth Erratic boulder Green Hairstreak

Limestone pavements Look out for… ● stunted ‘bonsai’ Ash trees. Water drains so efficiently through the limestone About 330million years ago during the Carboniferous period, warm seas pavement that it creates drought conditions for trees growing on them and nutrient deposited marine sediments in layers, or strata. These became compressed is in short supply. As a consequence, some trees on these limestone pavements only to form Limestone rock which has since been exposed and then eroded by grow a few millimetres each year. ice and dissolved by rainwater to create the distinctive geological features we see today. Clints and Grykes Glacial erratics In the past the removal of limestone In the last Ice Age from 15,000 to 10,000 These are rocks and boulders that glaciers moved pavement for walls, buildings and years ago, glaciers removed any overlying as the ice flowed southward, carrying material ornamental rockery stone destroyed much layers and exposed the pavement surface. from as far away as the central Lake District. Rainwater then ‘sculpted’ the rock to create of this irreplaceable natural habitat but the distinctive appearance of the fortunately surviving limestone pavements The erratics were left in their current situations pavement - deep cracks called grykes are now protected by when the ice melted. The rocks are often shaped divide the limestone rock surface into law and it is illegal and rounded by the ice. blocks called clints. to damage them.

Look out for… ● shade-loving plants such as Hart’s-tongue The limestone Look out for… Fern, Maidenhair, Spleenwort and grykes provide ideal ● very large limestone boulders in isolated Polypody Fern. conditions for ferns positions on the pavement, grasslands and mosses to grow, or in the woodland.

enabling them to ● Hart’s-tongue fern smaller distinctive non-limestone rocks survive periods (known locally as Coniston blue-stone) of drought. stuck in the grykes or visible lying on the surface of clints or on scree, after they were carried here in the glacial ice thousands of years ago.

Polypody Fern Adder’s tongue fern 6 7 Painting of Warton sheep and Warton village pictured in1903 Warton Crag northern slopes in 1907 Beacon Breast and scree in 1935 by Daniel Alexander Williamson 1862. © National Museums Liverpool. History of Warton Crag There is evidence to suggest there has been human occupation on The Crag was virtually treeless in the first half Warton Crag for a very long time. Objects from Neolithic and of the 20th century with continuous removal Romano-British times have been found, and the summit is believed of trees and sheep grazing, but since the to be the site of a hill-fort built by the Brigantes (Ancient Britons). 1950s, when it became uneconomic to graze the Crag, there has been a rapid and often dense spread of thorn-scrub, Birch and Ash. 2007

Did you know…? ● sheep have historically grazed the Crag ● timber was harvested for building and ● bracken was cut and used for animal ● limestone rock from the Crag was and there was a local breed known as domestic fuel. bedding or used in other products burned to produce lime in local the Warton or Silverdale Sheep. such as soap and pottery glaze. lime-kilns such as the one on Crag Road. ● Hazel was coppiced to make hurdle ● charcoal was produced in a number of fences, baskets, besoms, shepherds- ● limestone rock was quarried from small ● limestone pavement was damaged charcoal pits on the Crag to provide fuel. crooks, fishing baulks and many other ‘borrow pits’ and used to build the in Victorian times by stripping the domestic products. dry-stone walls under the Eighteenth water-worn surface for decorative stone. Century Enclosure Act.

Coppiced Hazel Swill basket making Historic boundary wall Coppicing

8 9 Warton Crag Nature Reserves

Key Nature Reserve Lancashire Wildlife Trust Boundary Nature Reserve P Car Park Gated access Access squeeze Permissive Summit access paths RSPB Nature Reserve

Lancaster City Council Local Nature Reserve

Lancashire County Council Local Nature Reserve

P

P

Aerial photograph ©Lancashire County Council

10 11 Cowslips Brimstone Wild Thyme Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

A special place for Warton Crag is also a very important breeding site for many species of butterflies and moths including an endangered and beautiful flowers and butterflies butterfly, the High Brown Fritillary. The Warton Crag is home to a great variety of wildflowers, plants and shrubs, habitat is managed in order to maintain which can be seen in their full glory in Spring and Summer. Many of the ideal conditions for them. special plants are valuable as food for butterflies and their caterpillars. The caterpillars of the High Brown Fritillary feed on leaves of Violets that grow in the High Brown Fritillary Look out for… semi-shade beneath Bracken. Small areas of Bracken are therefore cut each year to ● Blue Moor-grass in maintain an optimum number of these plants. flower, Violets and Wood Anemone in April A survey of butterflies is carried out each week between April and October and the ● Cowslip and native counts contribute to the national survey English Bluebell in data of Butterfly Conservation. early May Blue Moor-grass English Bluebell ● Early-purple Orchid and Adder’s-tongue Fern White-spotted Sable moth in mid-May ● Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Wild Thyme in June Look out for… ● ● Marjoram and Pearl-bordered Fritillary Horseshoe Vetch in July in early May and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary ● Ploughman’s Spikenard in late May and June in August Early-purple Orchid Bird’s-foot Trefoil ● Dark Green Fritillary from Small Heath ● Purging Buckthorn, early July the food plant of the Brimstone butterfly all ● High Brown Fritillary from year round mid July, as well as dozens of other butterfly species and ● spectacular displays many moths and caterpillars. of Spindle berries in autumn Horseshoe Vetch Spindle berries Pearl-bordered Fritillary Cinnabar moth caterpillar 12 13 Woodcock Marsh Tit Peregrine with chick Chiffchaff nest and chicks

A special place for birds Peregrine Falcon These amazing birds The way Warton Crag is managed helps nest in the quarry and to create the right conditions for a variety are masters of flight, of birds to nest, shelter and feed. stunning prey victims such as pigeons at Look out for… speeds of up to Bullfinch 180mph. The male is strikingly coloured crimson pink and both male and female show white rumps when in flight. They are present all year round but watch out for them in spring, eating buds on the trees.

Raven These birds have deep croaking and clonking calls and can sometimes be seen somersaulting in the air.

Marsh Tit Woodcock Warton Crag is a breeding These birds lay up in wooded strong-hold for this otherwise bracken glades during the day Blackcap infrequently seen member Garden Warbler and if you walk quietly you Listen for their short of the tit family. It can be These summer visitors arrive may be lucky enough to see Kestrel Green Woodpecker warble-song in early identified by its large black in May and have a similar, but one. At dusk on a late spring Look for this bird hovering in You may see these birds Spring. cap and dull grey cheeks subtly different warbling song or summer evening you may the sky watching for prey of digging around anthills to and a distinctive call that to the Blackcap. see them displaying over the small mammals. feed on ants, or hear their sounds a bit like a sneeze. reserve. ‘yaffling’ call. 14 15 Early purple orchid Grazing livestock Hazel Catkins Coppicing Hazel

Management of the nature reserve In the areas of hazel scrub below the cliffs Winter grazing by the cows also helps to and on the terraces, traditional coppice keep coppiced areas and woodland glades Warton Crag is managed for its special limestone habitats, plants and management has been carried out since the open and increase the ground wildlife, under Higher Level Environmental Stewardship agreements 1980s. Each year small areas of woodland flora and with Natural England. are cut back on a rotational basis. associated wildlife. The dry stone wall boundaries date back to The cows you may see are also organic Trees re-grow with vigour the following year at least the 18th century, when landowners livestock, so even the cow-dung provides providing a healthy and diverse habitat. were required to enclose their land to a healthy habitat for many invertebrates In the most recently coppiced areas the contain livestock. This reflects a long history and fungi! ground flora responds quickly with a flush of grazing by cattle, goats and sheep. of colourful flowers and verdant green Short periods of grazing by a small number Garden Warbler Without grazing and cutting, most of the that many birds and creatures also take of docile, but hardy, cows was reintroduced advantage of. important herb-rich and species-rich in the 1990s. grassland would quickly become overgrown Compare the number of flowers you see in with thorn-scrub and woodland causing the these areas with those on the floor under loss of its wildflowers and wildlife, as well dense, un-coppiced shaded woodland. as restricting the views. The winter coppicing benefits breeding Grazing helps control the invasion of woody song-birds, especially warblers by cutting species and importantly removes the dead back the older scrub. The regenerating herb-layer each year, resulting in greater young scrub cover is favoured by nesting richness and diversity of wildflowers and birds such as Whitethroat, Blackcap and herbs. Rockrose Garden Warbler.

High Brown Common Blue Fritillary Look out for… ● different stages in the coppice re-growth and see how the character of the woodland and its ground flora changes and rejuvenates under this traditional management regime.

Common Violet Violet leaves under bracken Herb Robert 16 17 Rue-leaved Saxifrage School children enjoying the reserve Cutting a bracken plot Grassland restoration work Management of the nature reserve Guided visits can be arranged by contacting the AONB Unit at Arnside Volunteering (details on back page). Why not get involved, help look after the Educational visits Crag and learn more about the wildlife by volunteering with one of the conservation The Crag provides a great outdoor classroom organistions? for young people to see and experience first- hand the delights of nature and special local wildlife. The young generation of today will be the people to look after the Crag in years to come! A Teachers’ Guide to Warton Crag and the Warton Crag Management Cutting dense thorn scrub Plan are both available on the AONB website. Be aware Green Shieldbug You should be aware of the possibility of and Comma butterfly picking up tiny deer-ticks in warm weather. Check for them and remove them.

and Sil e ve Cutting scrub regrowth For further information, d r i d s a n l r e A

A yy r

t e

u a a ‘Tick’ advisory leaflet is a o e

f B Ticks O l u ra ts u ta at Grasshopper What ndin g N available from the AONB are office or website. they? Avoid sitting on grass, particularly in warm weather in late July and August, when harvest- mite can cause irritation. These can be washed off once home, or if irritation Ticks – What they are... how to avoid them... persists, visit your local and what to do if you get bitten. pharmacist for further advice. A Pill-woodlouse Warton Crag bracken monitoring 18 19