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BROADWAY GRAVEL PIT
WORCESTERSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST

Nearest Town:  Broadway (about 800 yards)

OS Map:  SP 087 379.  (Landranger 150 and Explorer 45)

A small former gravel pit, now partly flooded, which attracts a range of bird life.


Location and access:  Broadway Gravel Pit lies about 800 yards north-west of Broadway village on the north side of the Broadway to Childswickham road and east of the old railway line at grid reference SP 087 379. A small fenced off area provides parking space for 2-3 cars. The reserve is open all year. Please keep to the paths. Children and dogs must be kept under strict supervision. Please take care when visiting, the pools are deep and can be hazardous.

Nearest station – Evesham (5 miles)
Nearest Bus – Broadway (800 yards)



Features:

pools and marsh

birdwatching hide

This site near the village of Broadway, south of Evesham, is owned by Wychavon District Council and leased to the Trust as a nature reserve. It is a small wetland reserve in a partly flooded gravel pit which was worked for its gravels, which were deposited here 10,000 - 60,000 years ago during the last ice ages. Now the pits have re-colonised to create a little haven for wildlife with open water and scrub, and carr woodland. Although the site only covers 1.6 hectares it is possible to see a wide range of plants, birds and animals. It became a reserve following a successful campaign to prevent the site becoming a lorry park.

A visit at any time of year provides an opportunity to see many different birds. In spring chiffchaffs, cuckoos, bullfinches and yellowhammers will all be calling. In summer look out for treecreepers, blackcaps and mixed tit and warbler flocks foraging through the trees for food. Mallards, moorhens and coots breed by the pools and visiting birds include snipe and mute swans. In autumn juvenile whitethroats hide in the trees and bushes along with marsh tits and robins.

The open water areas are liable to seasonal fluctuation with flooding. Dragonflies, butterflies and a variety of plants associated with wetland areas can be found in surprisingly high numbers for a relatively small site.

More than 160 different plants have been recorded. Mare's-tail (an uncommon wetland species in Worcestershire) can be seen in abundance between June and August throughout the pools and marshy areas of the reserve. Elsewhere, jointed rush and sharp-flowered rush, together with creeping bent and water speedwell can be found. Five species of willow are present: white, grey, crack, goat and osier. Many insects depend on willows for their food. For instance over 150 species of moth are known to feed on the foliage where aphids, leaf beetles, weevils, sawflies and gall wasps can also be found. In turn these insects provide ideal food for many birds. Willows provide nesting sites for several of the more common finches including the goldfinch, greenfinch and chaffinch.

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