Dropshort Marsh
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Attractive wet meadow, marsh and hedgerows make this small remnant of the Toddington marshes well worth a visit |
Not long ago, Toddington had many such wet meadows but today most of them have been drained, ploughed and converted to arable production. Dropshort Marsh is a living example of what has disappeared. A particularly good variety of sedges and rushes are found here.
Spring colour is provided by the yellows and pinks of marsh-marigold and ragged-robin, showing through the lush greens of rushes and grass. In summer, the flowers of marsh thistle attract meadow brown and marbled white butterflies, and goldfinches feed on the seeds later in the year.
Large pollarded willows line the course of a spring that flows through the reserve. A second spring feeds the marsh, towards the south-western end of this L-shaped meadow. Mature hedgerows of hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn provide autumn nuts and berries for foraging birds and small mammals, interspersed with tall oak and ash trees.
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Plants: Marsh-marigold, ragged-robin, cuckooflower, pignut, brooklime |
Plants: Lady's bedstraw, devil's-bit scabious, meadowsweet, marsh valerian, fen bedstraw, betony, tormentil, harebell |
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