Grafton Wood

Grafton Wood is a nature reserve near the village of Grafton Flyford, about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Worcester, in Worcestershire, England.

Grafton Wood
A brown hairstreak butterfly in Grafton Wood
Grafton Wood is located in Worcestershire
Grafton Wood
Location in Worcestershire
OS gridSO 972 560
Coordinates52°12′8″N 2°2′32″W
Area56 hectares (140 acres)
Operated byWorcestershire Wildlife Trust
Butterfly Conservation
DesignationSite of Special Scientific Interest
Websitewww.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/nature-reserves/grafton-wood

Description

The reserve, area 56 hectares (140 acres),[1] is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[2]

It is an ancient wood, originally part of the Forest of Feckenham, and is now jointly owned by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation. In October 2014 the two organisations bought Laight Rough, a seven-acre of ancient woodland, adjoining Grafton Wood.[3]

Most of the canopy in Grafton Wood is ash and oak. Until the 1950s, the wood was managed as coppice with standards, providing wood for broom handles, pea sticks and other products; the Trust is aiming today to replicate this traditional wood management.[1]

Butterflies and bats

Grafton Wood is the centre of the only colony of the brown hairstreak butterflies in the Midlands.[1] Laight Rough is also important for other butterflies such as white admiral, white-letter hairstreak and the silver-washed fritillary. In 2009 the Bat Conservation Trust launched a detail study of 10 counties in England to determine the range of the Bechstein's bat and in 2010 a lactating female Bechstein's was discovered in Grafton Wood suggesting that there was a breeding colony in the wood or close by. The People's Trust for Endangered Species are funding further research work.[4] In October 2014 it was reported that the scarce Brandt's bat has also been found at the 300-year-old woodland.[3]

References
  1. "Grafton Wood" Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  2. "Grafton Wood SSSI" Natural England. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  3. BBC Hereford & Worcester News "Future of Laight Rough butterfly woodland secured" 1 November 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  4. Bats about Bechstein’s James Hitchcock Worcestershire Life August 2012 p99
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