Broadway Gravel Pit

This small wetland reserve in a seasonally flooded gravel pit features open water, scrub and carr woodland.  Plenty of plants, birds and animals have re-colonised this 1.6 hectare site.

The reserve is ideal for visiting all year round.  In spring you can come to hear chiffchaffs, cuckoos, bullfinches and yellowhammers.  If you visit in summer keep a look out for treecreepers, blackcaps and mixed tit and warbler flocks foraging in the trees.  Mallards, moorhens and coots breed here and visiting birds include snipe and mute swans.  Visit in autumn for whitethroats, marsh tits and robins and return in winter for flocks of long-tailed tits.

Dragonflies and damselflies inhabit the open water whose levels fluctuate depending on the season (and may be dry in summer).  The pools and marshy areas of the reserve are also great for plants.  In fact, more than 160 plants have been recorded across the site.  Mare’s-tail (uncommon in Worcestershire) can be seen throughout June and August.  Sharp-flowered rush, creeping bent and water speedwell can also be found.

There are five species of willow on the reserve: white, grey, crack, goat and osier.  These help support a wide range of insects.  Over 150 species of moth are known to feed on the foliage where aphids, leaf beetles, weevils, sawflies and gall wasps can also be spotted.  The willows also provide nesting sites for several species of bird.

The reserve is owned by Wychavon District Council but managed by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.