Hungerford
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...
.
Most of this site is semi-natural woodland on
rendzina
Rendzina (or ''rendsina'') is a soil type recognized in various soil classification systems, including those of Britain and Germany as well as some obsolete systems. They are humus-rich shallow soils that are usually formed from carbonate- or occ ...
(humus-rich and shallow) soils. There are also areas of woods on chalk and acid soils, together with some chalk grassland and scrub. The woods have many
fallow deer
''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer.
Name
The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...
and birds while the grassland has a rich chalk flora and a variety of insects.
Fauna
The site has the following animals:
Mammals
*
Fallow deer
''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer.
Name
The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...
*
Roe deer
The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
*
Muntjac deer
Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...
*
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
Nuthatch
The nuthatches () constitute a genus, ''Sitta'', of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs. M ...
Limenitis camilla
''Limenitis camilla'', the (Eurasian) white admiral, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in woodland throughout southern Britain and much of Europe and the Palearctic, extending as far east as Japan.
Adult white admirals ha ...
''
*
Purple hairstreak
The purple hairstreak (''Favonius quercus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia.
The larva feeds on ''Quercus robur'', ''Quercus petraea'', ''Querc ...
Melanargia galathea
''Melanargia galathea'', the marbled white, is a medium-sized butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.
Despite its common name and appearance, this butterfly is one of the "browns", of the subfamily Satyrinae.
This species can be found across most ...
''
*
Dark green fritillary
The dark green fritillary (''Speyeria aglaja'') is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. The insect has a wide range in the Palearctic realm - Europe, Morocco, Iran, Siberia, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan.
Description in Seit ...
*
Hummingbird hawk-moth
The hummingbird hawk-moth (''Macroglossum stellatarum'') is a species of hawk moth found across temperate regions of Eurasia. The species is named for its similarity to hummingbirds, as they feed on the nectar of tube-shaped flowers using thei ...
Flora
The site has the following flora:
Trees
*
Birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
Acer campestre
''Acer campestre'', known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains. It has ...
''
*''
Quercus robur
''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...
''
*''
Ulmus glabra
''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches i ...
Whitebeam
The whitebeams are members of the family Rosaceae, comprising subgenus ''Aria'' (or, according to some authorities, its own genus) of genus ''Sorbus'', and hybrids involving species of this subgenus and members of subgenera ''Sorbus'', ''Torminar ...
Pteridium aquilinum
''Pteridium aquilinum'' (bracken, brake or common bracken), also known as eagle fern, is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions in both hemispheres. Originally native to Eurasia and North America, the extreme lightness o ...
''
*''
Chamerion angustifolium
''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. In ...
Mercurialis perennis
''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.Euphorbia amygdaloides''
*''
Polygonatum multiflorum
''Polygonatum multiflorum'', the Solomon's seal, David's harp, ladder-to-heaven or Eurasian Solomon's seal, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Europe and temperate Asia. In Britain it is one of three native spec ...
Orchis mascula
''Orchis mascula'', the early-purple orchid, early spring orchis, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae.
Description
''Orchis mascula'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with stems up to high, green at the base and ...
''
*''
Myosotis sylvatica
''Myosotis sylvatica'', the wood forget-me-not or woodland forget-me-not, is a species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Boraginaceae, native plant, native to Europe. This spring-flowering plant and its cultivars, typically with ...
''
*''
Lathraea squamaria
''Lathraea squamaria'', the common toothwort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is widely distributed in Europe and also occurs in Turkey.
It is parasitic on the roots of hazel and alder, and occasionally other tree ...
''
*''
Paris quadrifolia
''Paris quadrifolia'', the herb Paris or true lover's knot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in temperate and cool areas throughout Eurasia, from Spain to Yakutia, and from Iceland to Mongolia. It prefers ...
''
*''
Galium odoratum
''Galium odoratum'', the sweet woodruff or sweetscented bedstraw, is a flowering perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to much of Europe from Spain and Ireland to Russia, as well as Western Siberia, Turkey, Iran, the Caucasus, China ...
''
*''
Gentianella amarella
''Gentianella amarella'', the autumn gentian, autumn dwarf gentian, or autumn felwort, is a short biennial plant flowering plant in the gentian family, Gentianaceae. It is found throughout Northern Europe, the western and northern United States, ...
''
*''
Saxifraga granulata
''Saxifraga granulata'', commonly called meadow saxifrage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. It is native to Europe and Morocco.
Taxonomy
''Saxifraga granulata'' was first formally described by Linnaeus as part of hi ...
''
*''
Campanula glomerata
''Campanula glomerata'', known by the common names clustered bellflower or Dane's blood, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Campanula'', belonging to the family Campanulaceae. It is the county flower of Rutland, England.
Etymology
T ...
''
*''
Dactylorhiza fuchsii
''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'', the common spotted orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae.
''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'' is one of Europe's commonest wild orchids. It is widespread across much of Europe, with the range ex ...
''
*''
Crataegus monogyna
''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced in ...
''
*''
Cornus sanguinea
''Cornus sanguinea'', the common dogwood or bloody dogwood, is a species of dogwood native to most of Europe and western Asia, from England and central Scotland east to the Caspian Sea. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant.
Description
It ...
''
*''
Ligustrum vulgare
''Ligustrum vulgare'' (wild privet, also sometimes known as common privet or European privet) is a species of '' Ligustrum'' native to central and southern Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia, from Ireland and southwestern Sweden south to ...
''
*''
Geum urbanum
''Geum urbanum'', also known as wood avens, herb Bennet, colewort and St. Benedict's herb (Latin ''herba benedicta''), is a perennial plant in the rose family (Rosaceae), which grows in shady places (such as woodland edges and near hedgerows) in ...
''
*''
Helianthemum nummularium
''Helianthemum nummularium'' (known as common rock-rose) is a species of rock-rose (Cistaceae), native to most of Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical si ...
Orthotrichum lyellii
''Orthotrichum lyellii'', also known as Lyell's bristle moss, is a species of acrocarpous moss belonging to the family Orthotrichaceae. ''O. lyellii'' can be found throughout western North America and Europe. It is found most commonly growing epi ...