Nagshead is a woodland reserve, located on the western edge of
Parkend, in the
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...
,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, and is home to
RSPB Nagshead. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review'.
More than half of the reserve consists of 19th-century oak woodland, which is now managed solely for its conservation and landscape value.
In 1942, nest boxes were erected, in the hope that
pied flycatchers would control
oak leafroller moth larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
, which were defoliating trees. These boxes have been continually monitored since 1948, making it the UK's longest-running bird breeding programme.
Nagshead includes a
biological Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(
SSSI).
Facilities
The reserve is open all year. Entrance and car parking are free.
Facilities include;
* Visitor centre and toilets (open at weekends during the summer).
* Large car park.
* Two viewing hides.
* Two way-marked walks (1 mile and 2.25 miles).
* Picnic area.
* Information boards.
Flora and Fauna
Birds
Birdlife in the reserve includes
great spotted woodpecker,
Eurasian nuthatch
The Eurasian nuthatch or wood nuthatch (''Sitta europaea'') is a small passerine bird found throughout the Palearctic and in Europe. Like other nuthatches, it is a short-tailed bird with a long bill, blue-gray upperparts and a black eye-strip ...
,
northern goshawk and
common buzzard. Breeding birds include
common redstart
The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus '' Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to be ...
, pied flycatcher, and
common crossbill
The red crossbill or common crossbill (''Loxia curvirostra'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, which enable them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other ...
and
wood warbler
The wood warbler (''Phylloscopus sibilatrix'') is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asian Russia in the southern Ural Mountains.
This warbler is stro ...
, some typical species of woodlands in the west of Britain.
Redwing
The redwing (''Turdus iliacus'') is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.
Taxonomy and systematics
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in h ...
,
hawfinch
The hawfinch (''Coccothraustes coccothraustes'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. Its closest living relatives are the Chinese grosbeak (''Eophona migratoria'') ...
and
Eurasian woodcock
The Eurasian woodcock (''Scolopax rusticola'') is a medium-small wading bird found in temperate and subarctic Eurasia. It has cryptic camouflage to suit its woodland habitat, with reddish-brown upperparts and buff-coloured underparts. Its eyes ...
can be found in winter.
Other wildlife
More than 30 different butterflies and 20 dragonflies and damselflies have been seen at Nagshead. 8 of Britain's 12 reptiles and amphibians breed here;
common lizard,
slowworm
The slow worm (''Anguis fragilis'') is a reptile native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, a slowworm, a blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple and hazelworm. These legless lizards are also sometimes called common slowworms. T ...
,
adder,
grass snake
The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians.
Subspecies
Many subspecies are recognized ...
,
common frog
The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog, is a semi-aquatic amphibian ...
,
common toad
The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in ...
,
smooth newt and
palmate newt
The palmate newt (''Lissotriton helveticus'') is a species of newt found in Western Europe, from Great Britain to the northern Iberian peninsula. It is long and olive or brown with some dark spots. The underside is yellow to orange, and the thr ...
.
Wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
also roam Nagshead, but these are rarely seen.
Nagshead SSSI
A relatively small area of Nagshead reserve is designated a
biological Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
. This comprises 120.12 hectares and lies adjacent to the Nagshead Plantation, with the B4234 running through the middle of it. It is in the region of Nagshead Hill, Cleave Hill and Fetter Hill.
Ordnance Survey Get-a-map for grid reference SO608090
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References
External links
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Nagshead Nature Reserve Forestry England webpage
Natural England
(SSSI information)
RSPB Nagshead, official website
Promotional video for RSPB Nagshead
Bibliography
RSPB Nagshead Trail Guide (leaflet)
{{SSSIs Gloucs biological
Forest of Dean
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in England
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire
Nature reserves in Gloucestershire