Granville Local Nature Reserve

Hello everyone and welcome to another blog post! If you're new to blogs I hope you're enjoying the experience and don't forget this is a 2-way thing so please email me with any pics of our Friday Forays that you might have or anything that's relevant to local wildlife. Pete sent you my email address last week.

Each blog post will be around 10 days after each Friday event to give you time to submit your pics etc and me time to place them into some assemblance of order, upload to the blog, create the collage and build the slideshow. Sounds impressive doesn't it!? But it really is just a simple case of clicking buttons and pressing a few keys. (I wish!).

Very important
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Howler Competition
Just for a bit of fun I've dropped in a Howler into this week's post. A blinding but intentional mistake that everyone should easily spot and I don't mean the grammatical or typo errors which I'm sure are abundant but an obvious geographical, historical or factual mistake. When you find it just tell us all by posting a comment on the bottom of the post just below the Granville collage. First to spot it and leave the comment wins - erm, wins...er...
oh I'll think of something!



Anyway, this week is the time for Granville LNR although it seems such a long while ago now doesn't it?

One of the great things my involvement with the WFV has brought is the fact that I'm continually discovering places I didn't even know existed even when they're virtually on my door-step! And so it was with Granville and what a wonderful natural and diverse habitat it is too!

Having lived in this fine county of Shropshire for just over 5 years my knowledge of practically all the places we visit and work on is somewhat sparse and so I have to do my due diligence and research as much as possible before posting, but for me that's a very enjoyable part of my blogging experience. I'm acutely aware that the rest of the crew are already fully conversant with most, if not all, the SWT sites and I learn so much just talking and listening to other members.

I try to remember every little snippet I hear but as the years rumble on my retention-ability becomes weaker I'm afraid! Thinking about it though, I recall my form teacher several decades ago writing something similar at the back of my report so maybe it's an inherent problem! My long-suffering partner Pam would I'm sure second that!

Anyway... it appears that digression is another problem I suffer from, so without further ado:-

Granville LNR, previously known as Granville Colliery Spoil Heaps and prior to that, of course, Granville Colliery, is a designated Local Nature Reserve owned by Telford & Wrekin Council and managed by SWT consisting of some 35 hectares, which in pounds sterling is around 86 acres, if you know what I mean!

Much loved and much-visited by local residents the restoration has proved to be a true success story as the wildlife has not only returned since the closure of Shropshire's last deep mine in 1979 it has taken a firm and welcome grip!

After centuries of industrial turmoil the area has returned to nature. And nature's loving it! What was once industrial turmoil this now grand mix of woodland and heath teams with birds, insects, flowers and grasses all year round and is gradually pushing out the last remaining vestiges of industry with just a few reminders such as old furnaces and an engine house.

This wonderful reserve is home to Dingy Skippers and Green Hairstreaks to name but 2 of those colourful little flapping things found here and as a lover of butterflies myself I can't wait till next spring and summer to get involved in the surveys that I'm sure will be taking place at Granville and although its hills are quite modest there are fabulous views over the surrounding countryside.

There are some great pics on the slideshow that I know you're going to enjoy (one or two of you may not of course!), which all bounce into life the minute you click the collage at the bottom. DON'T GO YET THOUGH! ooops sorry for shouting!

Don't miss next week's post:-

Bat Boxes at TTP and a Caption Competition inspired by Nigel.

Unfortunately, I missed not one but two camera action-shot opportunities last week when Graham slipped down the bank inspecting the magnificent line of Trooping Funnel Caps and Liz stepped into a particularly deep and muddy puddle as she enthusiastically pointed to a nearby red squirrel!

One or two of you have already started to seek revenge by sending me pics of myself to upload. The advantage of being the blogger though is that I can choose which pics go up! Hehehe!

You might recall I left you last week with a tempter of what was to come in this weeks post:-

Discover Nigel's tip for working on a slope
What's better than Alistair's back
Graham's game
What happened to Lis's curtains!

See if you can spot all 4 of this weeks stars of the show!

Click the collage to run the slides...

Catch you all next week!