Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits

Wednesday 18th June 2025

Leader: Steve Parkes

This hidden gem of a nature reserve, which includes grassland, scrub and woodland, is owned by Bradford Council and managed by the Wharfedale Naturalists’ Society. It is sandwiched inbetween the busy A65 and the River Wharfe and is a long narrow strip, at it’s most measuring about 500m by 60m.

Thirty people gathered near to the reserve entrance for this evening meeting, with 17 Bradford Botany Group members being joined by 13 members of the Wharfedale Naturalists’ Society and Bradford Environmental Education Service. There were so many of us that Steve, the volunteer reserve manager and our leader for the day, decided to split us into two groups, one going clockwise and the other anti-clockwise.

In the clockwise group, we admired a beautiful planted Red Maple (Acer rubrum) and a hybrid orchid, Dactylorhiza x grandis (the hybrid between Common Spotted-orchid and Southern Marsh-orchid). As is often the case with hybrid orchids, it was taller and more robust than either of it’s parents, a characteristic known as ‘hybrid vigour’. A little further on, there was a patch of Musk-mallow (Malva moschata), the flowers still in bud, except for a few flowers that were just starting to open.

A non-botanical highlight was a congregation of birds on a gravel bank in the river that included 9 juvenile Goosanders, 3 female Mandarin ducks and a Redshank, with a Common Sandpiper also being heard.

We then walked out of the reserve, along the river, to a lake used by anglers. One Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) was spotted near to the path, along with several Common Twayblades (Neottia ovata). On the edge of the lake, we saw good stands of Marsh Fern (Thelypteris palustris), Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and Creeping-Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia).

Text by Tom

Photographs by Tom and Brigid