Discover a new series of blogs, as NHSN’s Naturalists take you on a journey of discovery with Newcastle Nature Networks.
Newcastle’s Nature Networks is an ongoing partnership project aiming to provide a home for wildlife throughout Newcastle’s parks, nature reserves, community gardens and other green spaces by improving and connecting areas that support wildlife and establishing nature ‘corridors’ across the city. Engaging people with wildlife is another key part of the project and NHSN is pleased to be delivering training sessions for partners’ staff and volunteers to help them identify urban wildlife.
In this series of blogs, NHSN’s Assistant Naturalists will show you the wildlife they discovered on training sessions across Newcastle.
Jesmond Dene, an ancient woodland?
On a trip to Jesmond Dene to learn all about the indicator species of ancient woodlands, NHSN Senior Naturalist, James Common, led a woodland walk through the Dene to discover if this beautiful green space in the heart of Newcastle could still be classed as ancient woodland. Using a handy guide to indicator species, we set out on a walk through the dene to explore the variety of plants that could be found in this unique urban habitat.
The paths and woodland verges in Jesmond Dene are full of a wide variety of plants and trees, thanks to Lord Armstrong introducing them in the late 1800s. This made searching for older woodland indicators a fun challenge among the many exotic species present.
As we headed across the river, we started to encounter some interesting plants, all of which are classed as older woodland indicators. Spotting Water Avens, Woodruff, Wood Speedwell and Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage, we were already being treated by a green sea of riverbank herbaceous plants.
While admiring the variety of trees, on our search for more herbaceous plants, as well as grasses, rushes, sedges, ferns and horsetails, a few more interesting species turned up. From Wood Sorrell to Three-cornered Garlic, Pignut and Primrose, we were starting to see just how diverse Jesmond Dene is. It was so interesting to learn the names of ancient woodland species and how to identify them, allowing us to remember them for future sessions and walks. For example, the delicate Wood Sorrel could easily be mistaken for four-leaf Clover, but if you look out for heart-shaped bright green leaves and small white flowers blooming near Easter time, you will be able to identify this plant yourself.
Crossing by the famous waterfall and watermill, encountering a huge variety of ferns such as Broad Buckler, Hard Shield, Hart’s Tongue and Scaly Male Fern, and plants such as Common Dog-violet, Bluebell and Wild Strawberry, we carried on up the dene through the home of the elusive Cave Spiders and onto our final stretch of woodland. Tackling ferns is tricky, but one fern you may spot on your walks is Hart’s-tongue. This fern is a damp, shade-loving woodland species, with thick, glossy leaves. You can also see them growing out of walls and on rocks!
Did you know, Hart’s-tongue got it’s name because the leaves were thought to look like a deer’s tongue?
From our ancient woodland indicator species list, we need 16 species in total to classify Jesmond Dene as ancient woodland, and we got 25! This is a great achievement for a city-centre location with such a variety of plants and trees, both exotic and native.
Read more about Newcastle’s Nature Networks here https://www.nhsn.org.uk/newcastles-nature-networks/
