WILDLIFE SITES IN ROTHLEY
Since recording the natural history of the parish one site has been recorded as a Wildlife Site but still awaiting official designation.
This is a field bordering the Rothley Brook, it does not have public access, is very boggy and should not be entered without permission and understanding of the terrain
Grassland meets the primary criteria due to the number of indicator flora species.
There is a permanently wet area in the centre of the field which is more of a marshy area than a pond.
The Rothley Brook borders the field and this meets the primary criteria as it contains the following features:
Riffle and pool system
Gravel substrate
Earth cliff eroded by water course 1m+ high
It also contains meanders.
FLORA AND FAUNA SPECIES
Field woodrush
Meadow buttercup
Sorrel
Red clover
Marsh Marigold
Cuckoo flower
Sedge-hairy
Rush-soft
Greater birdsfoot trefoil
Ragged robin
Creeping buttercup
Meadow foxtail
Creeping thistle
Daisy
Common mouse-ear
Dandelion
Thyme-leaved speedwell
Spear thistle
Cleavers
White clover
Wavy bitter-cress
Ground ivy
Brome
Meadow grass
Stinging nettle
Cow parsley
Dock
Yarrow
Water-cress
Fool's water-cress
Brooklime
Celery-leaved buttercup
Silverweed
Garlic mustard
Reed sweet-grass
Floating sweet-grass
Lesser celandine.
The Rothley Brook area:
Swallow
Heron
Moorhen
Mute swan
Blue damselfly
Brown trout
The grassland is not overgrazed and the farmer has been involved since the first visit
To finalise the designation as a Wildlife Site approval is now being sought from the land owners.
(Information at April 2006)
The land owners, William Davis, refused the designation. In 2016 we see what has happened to all the farmland behind the houses on Mountsorrel Lane. All the more reason to designate this lovely area as a Wildlife Site?