Pelsall Village Nature Trails Part1
Location of Principal Wildlife Areas in Pelsall
This natural history of Pelsall is principally concerned with the flora and fauna that has been observed and is often to be found at seven principal sites around the village – Wood (North) Common, Ryders Hayes Mere, the former London & North Western Railway line, the Central Commons, Ford Brook, Clockmill Brook and Heath End Pool.
Map of The Wildlife Areas
Wood Common Local Nature Reserve
By far the most productive in terms of species is Wood Common, an area of mixed natural and human-influenced habitats straddling the Wyrley & Essington Canal and the Cannock Extension that cuts arrow-straight north to Watling Street.
Over the last twenty years this single site has produced in excess of one hundred and fourteen species of bird, twenty-three species of butterfly, seventeen species of dragonfly and innumerable species of flora.
The Wood Common comprises in excess of ninety acres of grassland, lowland heath and birch scrub regenerated on the site of Pelsall Ironworks (and associated coal mines) that opened in 1832 and, at its height, employed more than eight hundred people among forty puddling furnaces, seven mills, two forges, two blast furnaces, many offices, workshops and stores, a gashouse, a gasometer, several limekilns and locomotive and wagon sheds. Yet despite its hard-earned international reputation, the ironworks was forced by unbearable economic pressures to close in 1892. Much of the works was sold piecemeal but the buildings that could not be sold were razed, the massive residue from the iron-making process was gradually broken down by a machine aptly known as the ‘Cracker’, while the ‘Black Iron’ railway-bridge across the canal was eventually demolished; the pit-heads were ‘capped’ and most of the adjacent spoil heaps were eventually reduced.
Year on year the locality was allowed to regenerate, a process so successful that on 12th July 1991 the Wood Common (though often called by the misnomer ‘North’ Common) was opened by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council as one of its excellent chain of local nature reserves. Trails were way-marked, new hedges were planted and efforts were made to induce a stronger growth of heather.
Today, the emerging habitats are varied and contrasting – the canals are edged with reeds and are tree-lined in some places; there are two pools of differing characters, one reed-fringed, the other marshy and interspersed with tussock-grass and low birch scrub; the lowland heath, characterised by purple heathers, yellow gorse, bracken and tussock-grass, is of local, regional, national and international significance; south of the canal are four new copses, two of birch-fringed conifers and two of mixed deciduous species; the intervening grassland is extensive, rough-cut and containing islands of wild flowers; hedgerows vary from the mature to the recently-planted while the adjacent farmland comprises varied arable crops, pasture and paddocks. Until recently, a landfill site at the top of Fishley Lane and developed on the site of the former Grove Colliery attracted huge numbers of gulls in winter.
In modern times the area has been increasingly used for recreational purposes and crossing the area there are three long-distance trails – the (Forest of Mercia) Timberland Trail – a ten-mile circular walk through and around historic Pelsall and the adjacent countryside – that was opened 14th March 2003; the Wulfrun Way and the Beacon Way. Paths are clearly marked, easy to follow and may be walked as part of longer, circular
routes through neighbouring localities such as Clayhanger Common, Brownhills Common, Little Wyrley (with its own stately hall) and Chasewater. Walking this area is relatively gentle but stout boots are strongly recommended in winter; refreshment is always near at hand in two excellent pubs adjacent to the canal, the ‘Fingerpost’ (better known to locals as the ‘Royal Oak’) on the Norton Road and the ‘Free Trade Inn’ at the foot of Wood Lane.
Pelsall Nature Trails Part 2
