Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire - Saving butterflies, moths and their habitats in Warwickshire

Ryton Wood Meadows Butterfly Reserve (OS Grid Ref: SP378728)

Overview
The Ryton Wood Meadow is a 12.4 hectare 30 acre reserve is an old sand and gravel pit that had been used for landfill and capped with clay and topsoil. The developing grassland managed by Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire now supports breeding populations of 33 different butterfly species, including Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak and Brown Argus. Since regular recording began in 1990, it is thought that 35 species of butterfly have been resident or bred on this site. The Wall Brown is now thought to be extinct in large areas of the midlands including the Ryton Wood Meadows reserve and Warwickshire as a whole.

Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire has agreed a 25 year lease for most of the site from the owners LaFarge, with a small part near the country park under a management only agreement. The Reserve was officially opened on the 28th May 2007 by Dr Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation and Mike Slater (Reserve Manager). The event was kindly supported by Barclays Bank and marked the 10th Anniversary of the Warwickshire Branch.

Just south of our reserve is Ryton Wood, a 258 acre 105 hectare SSSI most of which is owned by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust with some parts leased for 999 years from ARC Aggregates Ltd. Ryton Wood is one of Warwickshire's largest surviving semi-natural ancient woodlands with Oak, Hazel and Small-leaved Lime coppice. It is important for butterflies supporting several key species including Silver-washed Fritillary, Wood White, White Admiral and Purple Emperor.

Ryton Wood is part of an important group of woodlands in the area. These woodlands are collectively known as the Princethorpe Woodland Complex with our reserve at Ryton Wood Meadows at its heart.

Directions
The reserve lies on the southern side of the A445 between Bubbenhall and Ryton-on-Dunsmore just south of Coventry. It is bordered to the west by Ryton Pool Country Park, where ample parking is available, and to the south and east by Ryton Wood SSSI.

Entrances to the reserve are from the A445 opposite Featherstone Farm, through the country park and through various paths in Ryton Wood.

Map Reference: SP 378728
Ordnance Survey Map: 140
Postcode: CV8 3EL

The 538 bus service (Monday to Saturday) between Leamington Spa and Coventry runs along the A445 past the Ryton Pool Country Park entrance.

The Reserve was officially opened on the 28th May 2007 by Dr Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation and Mike Slater

Above: The Ryton Wood Meadows Reserve was officially opened on the 28th May 2007 by Dr Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation and Mike Slater, Reserve Manager.

Working in Partnership with LaFarge

The Ryton Wood Meadows Reserve is owned by LaFarge and managed by Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire.
http://www.lafarge.co.uk

Moths of Ryton Wood Meadows
Our reserve supports many important moth species including several species of day-flying moth, over 600 species in total.

Reserve Moths (Full list)	(31kb)
Reserve Moths (New Species 2005-9)	(80kb)
Reserve Moths (New Species 2009)	(37kb)
Reserve Moths (New Species 2008)	(10kb)
Reserve Moths (New Species 2007)	(10kb)
Reserve Moths (New Species 2006)	(13kb)
Reserve Moths (New Species 2005)	(18kb)

Habitat Management and Creation for the Grizzled Skipper and Dingy Skipper
In an attempt to enhance breeding habitat for the Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) at Ryton Wood Meadows Reserve, a low dry stone wall was laid to create egg-laying habitat in a herb-rich grassland. During subsequent egg searches, it became apparent that the butterflies preferred to lay eggs on the leaves of Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) which were growing over stones in the wall. The relatively high egg density found one year after the wall construction suggests that this habitat is now more suitable than a nearby, traditionally used, coppice ditch habitat.

Grizzled Skipper Habitat Report
Creation of a dry stone wall to create egg laying habitat for Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae at Ryton Wood Meadows Butterfly Conservation Reserve, Warwickshire, England by Mike Slater.

Published in Conservation Evidence (2007) 4, 35–40

(270kb)

Following this success, another project has been commenced to create improved habitat for the Dingy Skipper. This year 1358 pieces of broken slabs have been placed in the Birds-foot Trefoil rich meadow 1 to create abundant egg laying sites for the Dingy Skipper.

Dingy Skipper - Ova Deposition Report 2008

(397kb)

Reserve Documents and Reports

Reserve Map	(616kb)
Reserve Map (Grazing)	(944kb)
Transect Survey Report 2009	available soon
Transect Survey Report 2008	(2,563kb)
Transect Survey Report 2007	(737kb)
Field Identification by Jaye Whalley	(1,198kb)

Above: Regular work parties take place at our reserve throughout the year.

History of the Ryton Wood Meadow site
In the 1960’s an area to the South East of the Leamington Road, Ryton was brought by Steetley Aggregates. The site included approximately 150 acres of farmland and approximately 100 acres of Ryton Wood. During the 1960’s to the early 1990’s the area was mined for sand and gravel. This sand and gravel extraction resulted in the loss of between 40 to 60 acres of Ryton Wood.

From the late 1980’s through the 1990’s, the process of restoring the site commenced. The north east of the site was restored with inert building waste. The rest of the site was in-filled with household rubbish and then capped with sub-soil. The area where the building waste was dumped during the late 1980’s became colonised by a forest of Buddleia bushes. This became a great place to watch butterflies in the late summer especially for migrant species. During the tidying up process the site was bulldozed and leveled in the winter of 1990/91. As a consequence all the Buddleia bushes were lost. In 1995 the site was finally closed as a landfill site although further restoration work still had to take place.

Site ownership changed twice first from Steetley Aggregates to Redland and then to LaFarge. Throughout this time, all three companies allowed a full butterfly and day-flying moth transect survey to take place starting in 1990 and conducted by Mike Slater. This allowed Mike to fully assess the site importance for butterflies and moths. Once the site's importance was realised the owners were notified. Thanks to this liaison, suggestions were made to Redland on how the site should be restored. It was also suggested that the site should be sown with a wildflower seed mix and Mike managed to specify the type of wildflower seed mix to be used. Approximately half the site has been sown with a wildflower seed mix in two areas. A further quarter of the site had been colonised naturally and the last quarter of the site was left fallow. The boundary between Ryton Country Park has also been planted with a native hedgerow mix. In 2000 and 2001 minor management work was commenced by cutting a series of paths through the North East of the site. In 2003 more extensive mowing and raking of areas was started to prepare the site to become a nature reserve.

Above: Volunteers planting wildflowers on our reserve.

Above: Volunteers help with habitat creation for the benefit of butterflies, moths and other wildlife.

Survey Work
In 1990 a section of transect was set up in the northern area of the site (part of the Ryton Wood and Pool Transect). In 1991 a further section was added along part of the northern edge of Ryton Wood (part of the Ryton North Transect). The reserve is now completely covered by butterfly and day-flying moth transects.

Part of our reserve will also include a small part of Ryton Wood. To ensure all the reserve is fully surveyed a further section of Ryton Wood to the East of our reserve was started in 2003. To add to the day-flying moth records, Mike Astley, Alan Prior and other regular mothers commenced moth trapping on the reserve and in the small section of Ryton Wood which is part of the reserve.

Reserve Habitat Assessments

Section A	2008
Section B	2008
Section C	2008
Section D	2008
Section E	2008
Section T1	2008
Section T2	2008

Butterflies of Ryton Wood Meadows Reserve
Some of the more common species which you are likely to see on our reserve include Common Blue, Holly Blue, Small Copper and Brown Argus.

Occasionally, migrants have been seen on our reserve. These include Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow.

Above: Brown Argus by Peter Whalley


	Dingy Skipper
	Dingy Skipper also occur in small numbers on the reserve. As with the Grizzled Skipper, it is hoped that the recent improvements in habitat management and habitat creation will increase the abundance of Dingy Skipper on the reserve over the next few years. In Warwickshire, the Dingy Skipper is found across a variety of habitats but its key localities are on Brownfield sites such as the quarry complexes in the North Warwickshire area. It can also be found on waste ground and disused railways or as in the case at Ryton Meadows, ex-gravel extraction / landfill. Dingy Skipper photo by Peter Whalley


	Green Hairstreak
	Numbers of Green Hairstreak can vary greatly from year to year on our reserve. The core of the colony on our reserve seems to be centred on the area of meadow and hedgerow adjacent to the Police Training Centre football pitch on the north-eastern edge of the reserve. In Warwickshire, the Green Hairstreak is found on Calcareous grassland, scrubby grassland, woodland rides and clearings, heathland, old quarries and railway cuttings, but has a very restricted range in the region, being present on only a handful of sites. Such small colonies are very sensitive to habitat change/ loss due to poor land management or 'development' projects. Green Hairstreak photo by Peter Whalley


	Grizzled Skipper
	The Grizzled Skipper occur in small numbers on the reserve but with recent improvements in habitat management and habitat creation, it is hoped that the numbers of this key species will increase over the next few years. Adult butterflies tend to be seen most often in the eastern and north-eastern part of the reserve. In Warwickshire, the Grizzled Skipper can be found in a variety of habitats including disused railway lines, woodland rides and waste ground. In order to breed, the Grizzled Skipper requires patches of bare ground, an abundance of larval food plant and spring flowers. It does not occur in the north of the county and is present on only a handful of sites in the region. Grizzled Skipper photo by Steven Cheshire

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