Hawkley Warren
Hawkley Warren (grid reference SU730284) is a woodland on the northeast-facing Wealden Edge, near the village of Hawkley, three miles north of Petersfield in Hampshire. The site is situated in a deep chalk combe.
The site is owned by Hampshire County Council and managed as a nature reserve jointly by the council and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. The woodland glades are kept open by coppicing.
Site description[edit]
Beech is the dominant tree at this site although on some of the steeper slopes, Yew dominates; on the deeper soils in the valley bottom the woodland has a more open canopy of Ash and Hazel.
Botanical interest[edit]
The site's primary interest lies in the fact that it is one of three sites in Britain where Red Helleborine Cephalanthera rubra remains; this orchid grows on a north-west facing slope.[1] The others being Workman's Wood in Gloucestershire[1][2][3] and Windsor Hill SSSI, a site in the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire.[1][4] The species was first found at Hawkley Warren in 1986 by K. Turner and Ralph Hollins.[5]
Other orchid species found growing under beech at this site include Bird's-nest Orchid, Early Purple Orchid and Narrow-leaved Helleborine; Spurge-laurel is also found.
Ramsons is found in the valley bottom and Herb Paris is also found here.
Invertebrates[edit]
The Mountain Bulin snail Ena montana occurs here.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Species distribution map for Cephalanthera rubra Archived 2016-11-04 at the Wayback Machine, NBN Gateway, retrieved 25 February 2010
- ^ Fisher, John (1991) A colour guide to rare wild flowers ISBN 0-09-470780-4 Constable books, London
- ^ Kitchen, Clare, Mark A. R. Kitchen and Ian Carle (2008) Stephen Bishop's New Flora of Gloucestershire Part 2: the distribution maps The Gloucestershire Naturalist No. 14 Gloucestershire Naturalists ' Society, page 232
- ^ Ratcliffe, D. A. (1977) A Nature Conservation Review Volume 2. Site Accounts p. 53 ISBN 0-521-21403-3
- ^ Brewis, Anne, Paul Bowman and Francis Rose (1996) The Flora of Hampshire Harley Books, Colchester