Rixton Clay Pits 24/7/2010.
Flooded quarries and flashes left after mining are often good sites for seeing wildlife, but Rochdale Field Naturalists found a new variation on the theme at Rixton. The site was farmland until the 1920s, but was then worked for clay to be used in brick-making. Sand mixed with the clay was separated and piled into large heaps, so that when extraction finished in the sixties a variety of soil types was present and a wide variety of plants moved in. A good variety of plants means a good variety of animals that feed on them – as we were to discover.
First to catch the eye were the peacock butterflies – probably newly emerged, as they were immaculate. We saw over a dozen species of butterfly, with the gatekeepers probably the most interesting. These pretty little orange and brown insects are rather scarce in Rochdale, but here they were among the most common of the butterflies, basking in the sun and easy to see. Also welcome were huge numbers of bumblebees. Nationally almost all species of these are becoming less common, but here there were good numbers of at least four species. Dragonflies were less conspicuous, possibly because the day was relatively cool, but we found five or six species.
Of the many plants which were recorded, those which provided nectar points for the butterflies were noteworthy. Thus, hemp agrimony, knapweed and thistles both creeping and marsh were particularly attractive. Flowers with flat heads such as ragwort and fleabane were favoured by the gatekeepers, this butterfly having a short proboscis. Eyebright grew profusely on the mown grass tracks, while bulrushes were present in the pools and the pretty purple loosestrife grew in the damp pool margins.
Birds were more difficult, as the site is thickly covered by trees; it was difficult to see them, and birds are always quiet in July. It could have been an interesting exercise in identification by sound, but most of us were concentrating on other things. We found two of the four amphibians living on the site – unfortunately the two most common ones, frogs and common toads. Smooth newts are found here, but the site’s prize species in the great crested newt. This endangered species is found in good numbers here, so that the claypits have been designated a Special Area of Conservation – a designation of European importance.
We may have a hosepipe ban, but there has been enough gentle rain to provide good conditions for early fungi. We found several, including a large bolete and a good patch of blackening waxcap. Waxcaps are always favourites because of their bright colours and this one starts off yellow, then changes through a beautiful deep orange to black as it ages. We found the full range of colours. Other simple plants included mosses and liverworts and several ferns, including the very interesting adder’s tongue fern. With its single large, undivided frond and central stem carrying reproductive structures this tiny plant looks more like a flowering plant than a fern but it produces spores, not seeds.
All in all, a site that’s well worth a visit. Wellies would be a good idea in the winter and insect repellent in the summer, but for the sheer number of things to see in a small area it takes a lot of beating.
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