This week will see the opening of a new nature reserve that has been named after the man who led the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust for many years.
The reserve is to be named Tasker’s Meadow as a tribute to the trust’s former chief executive, Andy Tasker who sadly died after 30 years with the wildlife charity.
Tasker’s Meadow comprises two wildflower-rich ‘fields’ sandwiched between the Grand Union canal and an existing reserve at Stockton Cutting between Rugby and Southam.
Stephen Trotter, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's chief executive said: "Sites like these are really important glimpses of what our countryside used to look like but they are extremely vulnerable and can easily be lost to development, fertiliser or reseeding.
"Thanks to our volunteers, members and supporters who have left us a legacy in their wills, the Trust now protects more than 50% of the surviving examples in Warwickshire."
Tasker's Meadow has five species of orchid including the largest population of greater butterfly orchid (Plantanthera chlorantha) in Warwickshire.
Other species include large numbers of bee orchid (Orphys apifera), common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), twayblade (Listera ovata) and pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis).
The meadow also contains four of Warwickshire’s six nationally rare farmland butterflies.
Three of these, the grizzled skipper, dingy skipper and white-letter hairstreak are nationally designated as biodiversity priority species.
Comments