Srensall Common + World's End
MOD + Church Commisioners and Forestry Commision
York
Site Details
SAC area managed by NE with a contract sheep grazier. Worlds end SINC is part manged by FE NB Parts north of railway are manged by YWT
Recorders: Terry Crawford, Richard Baker, Yves Bouvet, Penny Relf Distance: 3160m Altitude: 23m Walk Time Approx: 1 hour 15mins
World’s End, to the West of Strensall Common in York, is a SINC with a mosaic of fen meadow, acidic grassland, heathland and pond habitats. Over the last few years, the area has become increasingly overgrown with birch scrub, and the rich habitat is of concern. So Freshwater Habitats Trust and the Yorkshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation started a program of work days to tackle the problem. For Lepidoptera, the main aim is maintain a mosaic of grassland and short- to medium-height scrubby patches. Thus Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) like coarse grassland, and Gatekeeper caterpillars live on grasses but the adult butterflies like nearby sunny scrub and hedgerows.
Strensall Common is the only known English site for the Dark Bordered Beauty (Epione vespertaria), an RDB species that is currently threatened, and World’s End might provide habitat for new colonies.
S1-2 and 6-9 are SSSI and part of a SAC and owned by MOD and managed by NE S4- 5 is owned by Church commisioners and its status is SINC but is currently being reassessed as SSI which wil help to protect this somewhat forgotten area
Sections:
S1-S2 are grazed by sheep by contract with NE and consists of heathland with wet areas of sedge and fen
S3 you are entering an area of dry scrub and recently felled area where scrub has been cleared.
S4 crosses into Worlds End and more dry unimproved grassland with large numbers recorded including some of the specialists ie Small Copper, BrownArgus Common Blue and Dingy Skipper.
S5 is a bit more heath passing a large section of mixed conifers and deciduous woodland and
S6 is wet and marshy grassland
S7 is more heathland with scattered trees and a favorite of the Large Skipper
S8 has large counts and is heath with some mature woodland. This is a favourite for Marbled Whites and Green-viened White and Ringlets but also the Skippers
S9 is heath and is dominated by Small Heath and has a colony of Green Hairstreaks
2022 Results
This site suffered with the drought and as with elsewhere the Small Skipper did poorly while Large skipper at least recovered on last year back to normal. The whites had a poor year although Small White in many places was welll up on last year. Brown Argus as with everywhere else had a boom year particularly the later generations dispersing from agricultural areas. Holly Blue also boomed as it did universally. All the vanessids really suffered but Peacock the most with a very poor summmer generation that disapeared almost as soon as it emerged. The Small tortoiseshell boom with our warm wet summers has finished with a bust. Marbled White held on and Meadow Browns and Ringlets were up on a good year last year . Small Heath was down as it was in many localities but still good.
2021 Results
Overall the site had its best year so far up 16% on average and there are signs of management improvements particularly in the YWT area. This could be the result of less grazing by sheep.
Species trends are fairly similar to elsewhere and with equal numbers of loosers and winners. While Small Skipper gained, Large Skipper had a very poor year, similar to elsewhere, which could be as a result of the after affects of last years drought; Large Skipper being a damp lover. All three white species were well down while in common with elsewhere Orange Tip was universally up. It is good to see better management benefitting Common Blue and Small Coper which pretty much everywhere else was down. The Vanessids had a poor year. The Marbled White remains fairly static while up elsewhere. Speckled Wood was down, as elsewhere, and another species still feeling the affects of last years drought. All the browns had good years which accounts for most of the overall gain in total count on the site. On other sites, Gatekeeper and Small Heath had a boom year which we suspect is a result of recovery from last spring's drought.
2020 Results
2020 seems to be a better than average year with the highest scores so far over the 4 years the transect has been in operation which is encouraging. There are a few loosers In particular Marbled White and Speckled wood common Blue and gatekeeper but this has been seen on other transects which may be down to teh drought in spring 2020. In contrast the winners were Small Skipper , large Whites Peacock and Teh Small tortoiseshell had a boom year.