INTRODUCTION THE LINCOLNSHIRE WOLDS The Lincolnshire Wolds is a nationally important and cherished landscape. WONDERS of the WOLDS The Lincolnshire Wolds is a distinctive and working landscape, Most of it was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in providing a wide range of habitats which all help to contribute to 1973. Covering an area of 558 square kilometres or 216 square miles, the the special qualities of the area. AONB contains the highest ground in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent, rising to over 150m along its western edge. Rolling chalk hills and areas of sandstone and clay underlie this attractive landscape. These places of interest, and the species that frequent them, are not Wildlife of the only based on underlying geology and soils of the area but also on The Lincolnshire Wolds has been inhabited since prehistoric times and the human influences on the landscape through the appearance of the countryside today has been greatly influenced by past and generations. present agricultural practices. Lincolnshire A Countryside Service helps to protect and enhance the landscape This leaflet provides a general guide to some of the through partnership projects with local landowners, farmers, parish wildlife habitats of the Wolds, which are councils, businesses and residents of the Wolds. commonly home to a wide range of plants and Wolds animals throughout the year. Barton-upon-Humber Kingfisher Brigg HOW TO GET Grimsby NVOLVED... I Caistor Taking Part in Surveys and Doing Something Yourself: Recording: Why not provide food and shelter for birds during nesting season, make a Market Rasen Louth Volunteer with the Lincolnshire by: www.dabgraphics.co.uk and Produced Designed Chalk Streams Project: bat box or create an insect hotel in www.lincolnshirechalkstreams.org your own garden? www.bbc.co.uk/nature Alford www.rspb.org.uk Report your wildlife sightings to the Horncastle Lincolnshire Naturalists Union: Helping to Improve the Environment: AONB boundary Spilsby www.lnu.org Take part in practical conservation Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service, Navigation Warehouse, Riverhead Road, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 0DA tasks with like-minded people, get ©LWT Or the Lincolnshire Environmental fresh air and exercise at the same time 01522 555780 www.lincswolds.org.uk [email protected] @LincsWoldsAONB Records Centre: www.glnp.org.uk/getting-involved/ www.tcv.org.uk your-sightings/ www.lincolnconservationgroup.org.uk One of a series of leaets to www.lincstrust.org.uk Countryside Service 09 / 17 10K Wolds © Lincolnshire help you get to know the Produced in consultation with the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust Lincolnshire Wolds If you would like this leaet in an alternative format please contact us. Wildlife of the Lincolnshire Wolds PLACES OF INTEREST 8 Red Hill – Grassland So called because of the distinctive colour of the underlying 0 A18 GRIMSBY chalk, this remnant of ancient sheep grazing land is of national 1 Swallow, near Daubers Wood – Roadside Verge Keelby importance and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). A diverse selection of wildflowers grow along this remnant Marbled White Buttery - Look out for this butterfly amongst the purple 6 of grassland including common knapweed, agrimony and A18 4 A Great 3 flowers of basil thyme, pyramidal orchid and felwort. goats-beard. L Limber 7 1 The orchid has adapted itself to be attractive to bees in order 1 Laceby Bee Orchid - A Lady’s Bedstraw - The tightly packed yellow flowers smell of I to help pollination. Unfortunately the only bee species it actually works on honey from June to September. In times past it was used for A 1 N lives around the Mediterranean. 0 he Beck 8 Wait stuffing mattresses as it also keeps fleas away. 4 1 Swallow Fairy Flax - The stems of this delicate plant droop under the C 2 9 Calceby Beck and Marsh – Chalk Stream weight of the five white petals in the summer. It has been used CAISTOR North Marshland and tussocky grassland; full of rushes and other O Thoresby to treat rheumatism. Nettleton C marginal plants which are important breeding grounds for birds 3 a ist A S o 1 like lapwing and snipe. t r 6 re H L Wold e t ig Newton 2 Waithe Beck, Hatcliffe – Chalk Stream h Ludborough A46 N Meadow Sweet - This member of the rose family has A public footpath runs alongside this meandering, Binbrook al been used to treat indigestion, skin diseases and the an internationally important stream habitat. You may be able S C common cold amongst others. h t 5 u to spot the blue streak of a kingfisher darting along 6 Fotherby o Marsh Marigold - Also known as ‘Kingcups’ the MARKET Tealby Ludford H L the bankside. South RASEN A631 Elkington bright yellow flowers of this plant are seen besides ase I ‘Ranunculus’ Water Crowfoot - A member of the buttercup family River R LOUTH streams. Their latin name translates as ‘Goblet of A15 whose white flowers can be seen mid-stream in spring and summer. 7 R the Marsh’. Marble White Otter - One of our top predators; many believe otters used to be trained E Tathwell Donington 10 Salmonby – Alder Carr Woodland in this country to catch fish for their keepers. on Bain East W Little Guelder rose, brambles, tall grasses and sedge Red Hill Barkwith A153 Cawthorpe thrive in these boggy conditions, hiding in the Nature 8 Cadwell Park 3 Reserve 7 au Nettleton Nature Reserve – Neutral Grassland O E shade under alder, willow and birch trees. at This area was once a landfill site. Now it’s a grazed species-rich A1 re Goulceby 6 G L Kingsher - An ancient name for a kingfisher wildflower meadow, home to the green woodpecker and cowslips. South Bluestone 9 Thoresby is the Halcyon. It used to be thought that D Heath Road Skylark - Their territorial call can be heard overhead when you walk R they made their nests directly onto the A1 iv 58 e Belchford ALFORD through meadow or farmland. The song can last several minutes while the r B S Brinkhill surface of water. If the kingfisher a in bird is so high it can't be seen; then it slowly descends to its nest on the 10 A stayed on the nest, the water would 1 0 Somersby 2 ground. 8 be calm and peaceful. Hence the West Ashby Riv 11 e Oxeye Daisy - It is easy to see how this flower got its alternative name of r L term 'Halcyon Days'. ym 'moonpenny' as its large face seems to glow in the moonlight. HORNCASTLE A158 n Skendleby Flag Iris - In the language of Hagworthingham flowers, the yellow iris Snipe Dales Country Park Candlesby symbolises passion. Wold Newton, The Valley – Farmland Old Bugle Brown Hare 12 SPILSBY Look for ash and beech trees in this valley, cut as meltwater Bolingbroke rushed through after the ice age. There are often kestrels A16 hovering overhead as you walk east onto open farmland. Grey Partridge - Gets its latin name (Perdix perdix) from Greek mythology. 6 Great Tows Road – Roadside Verge 11 Hoplands Wood, near Willoughby Perdix was thrown from a roof by Daedalus, his uncle. Athena saw this and Green corridors like this can contain many species of wildflowers Mostly oak and ash with a hazel understorey, the hard clay soil turned Perdix into the first partridge to save him from death. such as field scabious and meadow cranesbill. here means this can be a damp wood, an advantage for mosses, Brown Hare - Hares who gaze at the moon are said to bring new ferns and moisture loving plants like primroses. Quaking Grass - This distinctive grass looks like miniature hops and beginnings and growth, and to symbolise purity. literally quakes in the gentlest of breezes - commonly seen from June to Wych Elm - The term 'wych' means pliant and refers to the trees bendy September. branches. It is a good wood for boatbuilding as it takes a long time to rot when wet. 5 Tealby to Walesby – Farmland Birds-foot-trefoil - Another name is 'granny's toenails' which describes Bugle - Bugle has been used as a poultice to staunch wounds and reduce Walkers over this ancient farmed landscape may be fortunate to the seed pods, shaped liked claws. bruising. hear the melodious call of the skylark or see the flash of a linnets red breast. 7 Legbourne Wood 12 Keal Carr – Alder Carr Woodland Yellowhammer - The eggs of the yellowhammer The largest ancient woodland in eastern Lincolnshire; it can have A very important site for the scarce plant opposite-leaved look like they’ve been written on in felt tip pen; in over sixty different types of wildflower growing in it over the golden-saxifrage, and many rare insects who flourish in and fact the bird has an alternative name of 'scribble course of a year. around the decaying, dead wood and shaded areas. lark'. Barn Owl - It used to be said that an owl feather Sweet Woodru - In the middle ages, this sweet smelling herb was used Moschatel - Its alternative name is 'townhall clock' because of the square hung in a doorway would keep illness and bad as an air freshener and was strewn on the floor of houses. arrangement of its flower cluster. thoughts at bay. Grey Heron - Despite having a wingspan of six feet, they are surprisingly Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage - It is said that the leaves can make a light, weighing about the same as the average duck. good addition to a wild salad in the early spring. Yellowhammer nest A NATURAL HISTORY The Lincolnshire Wolds have been occupied since the end of the Grassland and Roadside Verges Woodland last Ice Age, over 10,000 years ago, when much of the ground was Although much of the Wolds has Woodland cover is low but still an important habitat and landscape cleared of tree cover.