About the reserve

Wildlife highlights

• Watch elusive hawfinches using their powerful beaks to open cherry and hornbeam seeds
• Look out for yellow meadow ant hills on Blawith Hill – green woodpeckers can sometimes be seen feeding on them
• In spring - display of bluebells and other spring flowers in the woodland
• In summer - grassland flowers continue the show where bird's-foot trefoil, common knapweed, eyebright, pignut and wild thyme flourish
• In autumn - Merlewood Bank is a great place to see colourful waxcap fungi

What makes Brown Robin nature reserve so special? 

This is a typical limestone woodland of ash and hazel with yew forming dense stands in places.

A magnificent display of bluebells, wood anemone, wild garlic and primroses carpet the woodland in spring, while spurge laurel, a small shrub with highly-scented flowers, thrives here at the northern edge of its range in Britain.

Stinking iris, a plant that gets its name from the smell of fresh meat given off when its leaves are crushed, is another plant more commonly found further south.  It thrives here although is probably introduced.

Grasslands

The grasslands have been fertiliser-free for many years and are grazed by cattle, which encourages wildflowers.

Merlewood Bank and the Top Fields are great places to see bird’s-foot trefoil, common knapweed, pignut and wild thyme, which flourish in the summer. 

Keeping it special

Historically the woodland would have been coppiced on a regular basis. Recently, we've re-introduced coppicing to a small enclosure within the wood. The fence ensures that the coppice regrows, as there is a large roe deer population in the area.

The grasslands have had no fertiliser application for many years and we graze them with both cattle and sheep to maintain the species diversity. 

Recent history

The nature reserve was given to the Trust in 1977 by Miss Mary Widdup.