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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 57
A 2021 Butterfly Survey of Land Adjacent To Valley Road, Ipswich TM 158458
R. Stewart
R. Stewart
This area, to the left of Valley Road as one looks down from Dale Hall Lane towards Graham Road at the bottom of the valley, has a length of approximately 630 metres and varies in width from 50 to 70 metres. It graduates from mainly grassland to a damper habitat and finally well-established woodland. A long hedge with Ivy, Stinging Nettles and Brambles, separates the area from the long rear gardens of properties along Constitution Hill. Two wildflower beds, about 30 metres apart, were the main focus of this study by myself and my wife Anne-Marie. These two beds are separated by a hedge with Hawthorn and Oak, with two mature Oaks further down the valley. There are Buckthorn bushes further down and vestiges of small ponds in the damper areas. A further narrow wildflower strip of about 100 metres in length runs alongside the Valley Road pavement, starting just past the flats at Dale Hall Lane. These wildflower beds were made as part of the ‘Urban Buzz’ community conservation project masterminded by David Dowding, with the aim of creating and enhancing 100 sites for pollinators around Ipswich. Fifteen visits were made between 6 June and 17 September, i.e., about once a week. First, here is the seasonal succession of plants, both within and outside the wildflower beds:
R. Stewart
R. Stewart
Ox-eye Daisy dominating in early summer. Ox-eye Daisy, Cornflower and Corn Cockle.
Wildflower bed.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)
One of the main paths and the edge of one wildflower bed.