Today’s Flora and Fauna

The River Severn runs broad and deep between fairly high banks over a clay bed. Upper catchment impoundments and a series of locks and weirs control water levels, including those at Holt Fleet, which were installed in the 19th Century to aid navigation. The river regularly floods in winter. The Severn is important for migratory fish, e.g. salmon, eel, river and sea lamprey and twaite and allis shad as well as resident game fish such as Brown Trout and a variety of coarse fish. Species of the latter which occur in the Severn at Holt Fleet include Chub, Barbel (an introduced species), Bream, Roach, Perch and Pike.

The Severn Vale is not well wooded. Most woods are small, with almost 70% of them less than 10 ha in area. Ockeridge Wood is an exception. The most commonly occurring types are ash-maple woods, oak woods and oak-birch woodland. Many woodlands, including those of Holt and Little Witley, occur on base-rich soils derived from the heavy Keuper Marls and support a rich ground flora including Bluebell, Dog's Mercury, Yellow Archangel, Ramsons and Sanicle. Many of the woodlands in the Severn Vale have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). An example in Worcestershire is Shrawley Wood, one of the most important woods in England.

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Bluebell................................................................Yellow Archangel..........................................................Ramsons

Lowland meadows are usually unimproved neutral grassland in the enclosed lowland landscape. They Include hay meadows, floodplain meadows and pastures used for grazing. These are mostly of a grassland type characterised by Crested Dog's-tail and Common Knapweed. Such grasslands are a nationally scarce habitat having declined by over 95% since 1945. They have a rich flora with the best meadows supporting about 40 plant species in a square metre of turf and over 120 species in total.

The traditional management of these grasslands entailed either hay-making, with aftermath grazing, or use as permanent pasture. Significant number re now grazed by horses rather than farm stock. Many of these grasslands are still surrounded by species-rich, mixed hedgerows. The pattern of ancient ridge and furrow systems is still obvious in many meadows and some are listed as archaeological features of interest. There are probably no true species rich meadows in Holt and Little Witley. Most of those that appear to be permanent pasture have been ploughed and re-seeded during or since the war, or have had artificial fertilizers applied.

Permanent Pasture and Species-Rich Hedge with Damson Trees

Much of the floodplain of the Severn would once have been wetland. Successive land drainage, river engineering and reclamation has reduced the extent of natural wetland to a fragment of its former area. None survive in Holt and Little Witley, however reedbeds, sedge and reedmace swamp vegetation, which are generally not very extensive in this area, occur as temporary features during sand and gravel excavations in Holt. They support otherwise scarce invertebrates and they are valuable nesting sites for birds. At Top Barn Farm in Holt the sand and gravel workings and purpose build ponds with associated vegetation are home to Little Ggrebe, Great Ccrested Grebe, Cormorant, Tufted Duck and Kingfisher. In the summer Hobby, Little Ringed Plover, Sand Martin, Reed and Sedge Warblers, Yellow Wagtail occur. Shoveler, Teal, Pochard, Wigeon, Lapwing and Snipe occur on the winter. Bearded Tits have been seen briefly at Grimley. Passage migrant waders at Top Barn include Greenshank, Dunlin, and Green and Common Sandpipers. In 2000, in common with many other places, Clouded Yellow Butterflies were seen. Essex Skipper Butterfly was recorded, only the third for Worcestershire.

A variety of birds occur in nearby Monkwood and also probably Ockeridge Wood. Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Treecreeper, Spotted Flycatcher, Yellowhammer and, rarely now, Tree Sparrow, are known to occur in Holt and Little Witley. Ravens have made a recent appearance in the vicinity of Ockeridge Wood.

Yellowhammer

Mammals known to occur in the two parishes include Hedgehog, Water, Common and Pygmy shrew, Brown Hare, Badger, Stoat, Weasel, American Mink and Fox. Recently Muntjac deer have been spotted and Roe Deer might be expected soon. Otters utilise the Severn and it’s larger tributaries. Due largely to the depredations of American Mink, Water Voles are probably now absent. The introduced Grey Squirrel has totally replaced the native Red Squirrel. Recent Worcestershire records for the Dormouse include Ockeridge Wood.