Eccup Whin

Wednesday 16^th June 2021

Leaders: Laurie and Janine Wildwood

Eccup Whin is a local wildlife site owned by Leeds City Council, but was formerly used as a tipping site by Yorkshire Water during the construction and dredging of Eccup Reservoir. This resulted in the formation of embankments, humps and hollows, creating wetland areas and ponds. The name ‘whin’ suggests the land was originally a heath and is on acidic Millstone Grit, but nowadays the site has been largely overtaken by woodland scrub and planted trees. Some open and wetter areas remain and have been enriched by the tipped materials, so resulting in a diverse range of plant species.

Our visit was on a fine June evening with a good number of members attending. The winding paths through the tall summer vegetation were quite complex, but well navigated by our leaders Laurie and Janine. Typically the woodland paths were lined with ground-elder and broad-leaved trees such as sweet chestnut as in the photo, as well as other species.

A small pond, rather over-shaded, but with bogbean and white waterlily still present was seen. Then we came upon an interesting, much more open, damp area with some sedges, lesser spearwort, ragged-robin and common spotted-orchids. Our species count mounted up to over 130 as we explored the glades and rides and an open meadow dominated by various rushes. The sun was dipping towards the horizon as we returned back to our cars in Black Hill Lane.

Text and photographs by Bruce