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Grafton Wood Butterfly Reserve

The boundaries of this 56 hectare ancient woodland have remained unchanged since at least 1700. The wood is on a gentle west-facing slope, with heavy soil of the Lower Lias clays. Derelict hazel coppice, birch and field maple are major components of the current woodland structure, along with various shrub species.

Grafton Wood is an ancient semi-natural broad-leaved woodland. Until the 1950s most of the wood was managed as coppice-with-standards providing materials for a once-thriving demand for coppice products (broom handles, pea and bean sticks, hedge-laying materials, clothes pegs and firewood). The canopy is dominated by ash and oak. There is also a circle of small-leaved lime coppice stool which must originally have started as one lime tree at least a thousand years ago. 

 

Blackthorn thickets are extensive in places around the margins of the wood and along interior rides, and are the target of enhancement management.

This reserve is co-owned by the Butterfly Conservation the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is managed by the Butterfly Conservation.

butterflies Brimstone Brown Argus Brown Hairstreak: the reserve is at the centre of the only known breeding area in the region Comma Common Blue Gatekeeper Green-veined White Holly Blue Large Skipper Large White Marbled White Meadow brown

Orange Tip Painted Lady Peacock Purple Hairstreak Red Admiral Ringlet Silver-washed Fritillary Small Copper Small Skipper Small Tortoiseshell Small White Speckled Wood White Admiral

 

Moths: Drab Looper, Rosy Footman, Devon Carpet, Waved Black.

Birds: buzzard, goldcrest, treecreeper lesser and greater spotted woodpeckers.

Location: Take the A422 eastwards from Worcester (starts off the A44 as it comes in from J5 of the M5), turning off left to Grafton Flyford about 8 km after crossing over the motorway. Park by the Three Parishes Village Hall and follow the footpath eastwards to the reserve.

Grid reference: SO 972 560

 

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