Rodley Nature Reserve

Sunday 20th July 2025

Leader: Andy Woodall

Joint Meeting with Wharfedale Naturalists’ Society

Given the poor weather forecast I was delighted when nearly twenty people turned up for this event. The vast majority were BBG members and a few of us are members of both organisations. The weather was actually quite kind to us but when it started to rain heavily around two o’clock we decided to beat a retreat.

There is a rich variety of plants at Rodley albeit some have been planted or sown in wildflower mixes. The origins of many though are unclear.

I aimed to start at the dragonfly ponds. There are half a dozen or more of these carefully engineered ponds now and they have a good mix of plants in the marshy fringes. However, there was much to see before we got there. The ‘dipping ponds’ near the visitor centre had a good array of aquatics including Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae), Flowering-rush (Butomus umbellatus), Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), White Water-lily (Nymphaea alba), Fringed Water-lily (Nymphoides peltata) and Water-soldier (Stratiotes aloides). The other ponds had additional species like Water-plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) and the much more scarce Narrow-leaved Water-plantain (Alisma lanceolatum). 

A seed mix planted in ‘Tim’s Field’ as a winter crop for birds had got off to a slow start due to late sowing because of the dry April. It was good to see Sunflowers, Fumitory and Fat Hen coming through.

The wildflower meadows are not as varied as they should be, ironically because the soil is so rich after many years of the site being a sewage farm.

We only covered about a fifth of the reserve demonstrating that there was plenty to keep us occupied and plenty more to come back for!

Text and photographs by Andy W

Photographs by Susan