Mapperley - Woods, Water And Wildlife
w/e 29 May 2005
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
There's a car park on the southern edge of Shipley Country Park
and on the northern side of Mapperley Reservoir. The car park
is reached by following the road from Mapperley Village and crossing
the dam. For a nominal parking fee of 50p payable in an honesty
box, visitors can wander around the reservoir or climb up Shipley
Hill via the private road on the left of this picture above to
explore the park. It is also a good place to park to access Mapperley
Wood, the trees in the foreground of the picture, a narrow belt
of woodland with a stream running through it and a pond in the
middle - which is where we went for the following images.
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The wood is a Nature Reserve administered by the Derbyshire Wildlife
Trust and we entered the site by climbing the style near the
car park.
I must admit that I have difficulty in distinguishing one bird
call from another but the air was full of birdsong. It is said
that the calls of chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap, robin
and chaffinch are common sounds to be heard in the wood. Much
more easily identifiable though was the grey squirrel that crossed
our path.
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A couple of hundred yards into the wood, another path branches
off and leads to Mapperley Pond. At the end of May it was flanked
by red campion and cow parsley and elsewhere in the wood the
last bluebells of this season were still in flower. Within the
confines of the wood we also saw forget-me-nots and many other
wild flowers.
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A hide overlooks the pond and permit holders can use it to watch
for coot, moorhen, mallard and kingfisher as well as the aforementioned
woodland birds. Dragonflies and damsel flies also thrive among
the reeds and this view across the pond from close to the hide
shows that it is a lovely spot even if the wildlife is not visible.
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Several paths wind their way through the wood which contains
some of Derbyshire's most vulnerable habitats. These include
mature oak woodland, wetland and a small area of acid grassland.
Many of the trees in the wood have nest boxes attached which
provide homes for species such as the great spotted woodpecker
and the nuthatch during the summer months.
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We returned to the car park from the far end of the wood by walking
first into Mapperley Village and then out again along the road
over the dam. With Mapperley Wood on our right hand side, the
views to the left over the still waters of the reservoir were
just too good to pass without taking a picture or two. This one
is enhanced by the yellow flags beneath the dam wall. The two
white specks in the distance were a pair of swans shepherding
a family of cygnets and to the right of them, the vertical white
line in the water is the reflection of a lone angler.
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