Stanmore Common Nature Trail
Short trail post 4: This open meadow is Cerrislande. The vegetation is a rich mix of grasses, bracken, scrub and wild flowers including the yellow creeping buttercup. The tall woody stems are willows. Identifying willow to species is difficult especially since the various species hybridise freely. The plants here have oval leaves with paler green below and an intricate vein network, suggesting goat willow Salix caprea, however grey willow Salix cinerea can look almost identical. Whatever they are, they need to be controlled: if volunteers did not cut the willow and other woody plants on rotation this area would rapidly revert to willow scrub then woodland.

There is a lot of bracken, a native fern of dryer soils. Bracken supports thirty species of invertebrates, so it is a valuable plant. However it does tend to be invasive, dominating the open ground and shading out grasses and flowers, so we do control it to maintain a mix of vegetation.

To description for short trail post 5

More on some of the birds you are likely to see or hear on the Common

More on the three species of deer on the Common and their tracks

Click here to learn more about the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum including guided walks and conservation workdays.