Wollaton - Harrison's Plantation
w/e 12 January 2014
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
In the quiet days after Christmas at the beginning of each new
year; we're often drawn to a local park be it Victoria, Shipley
or Wollaton armed as usual with the camera. This year was no
exception and we made our way once again to Wollaton but it wasn't
for the Deer Park that we headed this time but a small Nature
Reserve that goes by the name of Harrison's Plantation.
We entered the site from one of two entrances off Lambourne Drive
and almost immediately were on the southern edge of Raleigh Pond.
Now popular with anglers as a fishing pond it is thought to be
a former clay pit.
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A path circles the pond and we would return to Lambourne
Drive via the northern side of the pond but we continued the
outward route beyond the water crossing the first of several
footbridges.
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Harrison's Plantation is in two sections and Raleigh Pond occupies
approximately half of the first part. We exited (top right) that
part and crossed Old Coach Road (above left) to enter the longer
narrower second part. Old Coach Road continues to the north as
a bridle path (bottom right) and a drive to what a leaflet describing
a circular walk from Wollaton Hall calls "a mock Palladian
house".
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Moss covered logs line the boundary of part of the path through
the woodland and also provide a welcome habitat for the insect
life in the Nature Reserve.
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The path undulates and meanders through the site and passes over
several more footbridges over a small stream.
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The path crosses backwards and forwards over the stream as they
both twist and turn through the Plantation.
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The stream seen here from one of the footbridges, also showing
here a small waterfall, flows from Martin's Pond which marks
the western extremity of Harrison's Plantation.
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The trees in the Plantation are mainly sycamore but there are
examples of ash, wild cherry, oak and other species too. Owned
by Nottingham City Council, it is managed by the Nottinghamshire
Wildlife Trust and work is being done to reduce the dominance
of the sycamores. This particular tree at the side of the path
brought Alice In Wonderland and a giant rabbit hole to mind!
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The exit from Harrison's Plantation leads directly to Martin's
Pond which we visited in May 2011 and images from then can be
viewed here
so we turned back here and retraced our steps back towards Lambourne
Drive.
After crossing Old Coach Road again we arrived at
a fork in the path and turning left we continued to walk around
the northern side of Raleigh Pond. As we approached the pond
again this tree appeared to be a casualty of the recent gales
and high winds but even though it is receiving some support from
another tree, its roots appeared to be firmly embedded in the
soil.
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At one time of day, the woodland extended much further north
but the Plantation (and Martin's Pond) is now surrounded by housing.
Raleigh Pond however is still a good place to observe the bird
life which includes a large variety of species including commonly
seen mallards and Canada geese whilst in the surrounding woods
the great spotted woodpecker, kingfisher, nuthatch, and spotted
flycatcher among others have been sighted.
For more information about Harrison's Plantation and a map of
the site see the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's website - click here to open a new window.
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