Improvements at Moseley Bog

BY JAKE WILLIAMS, Senior Reserve Officer

Regular visitors to our Moseley Bog & Joy’s Wood Nature Reserve may have noticed a lot of activity on site in recent months. We’ve been working closely with the Friends of Moseley Bog & Joy’s Wood and our regular volunteers to improve access for visitors to enjoy the site as well as protecting and enhancing the valuable habitats that make the site so special.

Here’s an update on what we have achieved.

Boardwalk repairs and wet woodland improvements

The wet woodland of Moseley Bog contains a mix English oak, alder and willow and this charismatic habitat with vegetation such as large sedges and woodland flora give this part of the reserve a magical, swamp-like feel. This wet habitat is amazing for a wide range of species such as the regularly spotted tree creeper and woodpecker, but the damp conditions are not so good for wooden boardwalks! Over the last 12 months, volunteers have supported us in repairing a huge area of rotten boardwalks, steps and bridges to allow people to enjoy this unique space. Alongside the resurfacing of the small public car park, the reserve is now more accessible for visitors to enjoy for generations to come. We have installed boundaries and trip rails to protect banks from erosion and helping trees to keep their support system. To create resilience to the existing population of woodland flora we have seeded banks native woodland species such as English bluebells using seeds gathered from the existing patch on site.

Protecting the meadows with new pathways

In the Joy’s Wood area of the reserve, we hired contractors to install hard standing paths to the meadow areas. This area was prone to becoming very muddy and visitors would (quite sensibly!) avoid muddy puddles by walking across the meadow. These new paths will allow visitors to enjoy the beauty of the meadows whilst protecting them from trampling. The new paths also helped us start further enhancement works on the meadows. By strewing green hay on the Horse Radish Meadow we aim to create a second area similar to the large Joy’s Wood Meadow where you can spot both green winged and common spotted orchids!

In between these two meadows is the wet meadow, which we are enhanced by adding the seeds of wet meadow species that are collected locally, including great burnet, devil’s bit scabious and ragged robin. The arising (cuttings) from the path installation have been used to make scallops along the path. Scallops are mounds cut into the scrub seeded with wildflowers that act as great spots for basking butterflies and all manner of pollinators.

New interpretation panels

To help visitors enjoy the site, we have designed new interpretation panels, which provide information on the history of the site and species and features to look out for on your visit. Thank you to our volunteers for installing the new panels!

Back in 2021, with significant support from the Friends of Moseley Bog & Joy’s Wood, we raised over £23,600 to support this work. Huge thanks for the donations from over 300 members of the public and Leaflovers Café in Moseley and for grants from The Edward and Dorothy Cadbury Trust, Blakemore Foundation, Arnold Clarke Foundation, EH Smith, Limoges Charitable Trust, GJW Turner Trust, the Birmingham Mayor’s Charity and Seeds of Change via Neighbourly.

- POND CREATION AT SMESTOW VALLEY

Ponds and wetland areas

One chapter ends, another begins…

The April 2022 to March 2023 phase of this river restoration project was funded by DEFRA’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund to undertake ecological enhancement works and increase community engagement across four sites across the Black Country; Stambermill and Riverside House in Stourbridge, Seth Somers Park in Halesowen and Smestow Valley Nature Reserve in Wolverhampton. During this phase of the project, we engaged with the local community, delivered habitat enhancement works, and created and improved river corridor for both people and wildlife.

Here’s a snapshot of what we achieved!

4ha of grassland enhanced and created Over 400m of hedgerow planted, laid or enhanced

1000s of native plants and trees planted 7h a of woodland enhanced

The ponds and wetland areas we have created and enhanced have provided new areas of standing water, providing missing habitats to support an increased range of wildlife from amphibian to invertebrates such as dragonflies as well as connecting the habitats in the wider area. We planted native wetland species including yellow iris, marsh marigold and rushes to encourage more wildlife to the water’s edge as well as providing filtration services to catch any pollutants that maybe present in the water before they flow into the River. The ponds are already show signs of use by local badger and fox populations as well as frogspawn being present in one this spring.

Hedgerows