Wharram Quarry YWT
Site Details
Recorders: Victoria Shone + Martin Philips Distance: 832m Altitude 135m Walk Time: 45 mins
The site was actively quarried for chalk between 1919 and the 1940s and was offered to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in the 1960s by owner Lord Middleton after he noticed bee orchids growing on the quarry floor. A species rich chalk grassland, Wharram Quarry is home to many of the characteristic flowering plants that thrive on the thin Wolds soil. Plants include Colt's foot; Cowslip Thistle broomrape; Wooly thistle; Pyramidal orchid Autumn gentian; Quaking Grass and Carline thistle and Birds foot trefoil is abundant.
Key Butterfly species are Dingy Skipper, Marbled White; Small Heath. The site is carefully managed and a new scrape area created on a 5 year cycle. Teh density of butterflies here are without match in Yorkshire.
Sections:
The sections are fairly similar but of different lengths apart from S10 and S11 which are in more shady rough pasture and was not originally part of the quarry but is under restoration. Dingy Skipper are favouring near the scrape area of S3-S4
Results 2022:
This dry quarry site was very much down on 2021, nearly a third and almost universally across the species likely because of drought. Of significance is Brown Argus which boomed in most localities did show an increase. Speckled wood also held up well here while it boomed elsewhere. However Dingy skipper numbers halved while the Vanessids were down by even more. Ringlet and Small Heath also halved. Only Marbled white and meadow brown for which this is a very good site held their numbers as they did on most sites.
