Heritage Resources are added when made available to the Parish Council. For further research the Essex Records Office is recommended
Castle Hedingham Parish Records: Births, Marriages and Deaths
Castle Hedingham War Memorials
Environmental Projects: Please follow the link if you wish to read Castle Hedingham Parish Council's Environmental Policy
Rewilding Project, New Park
Our rewilding project at the Pump House land, New Park, started in spring 2023. To take part in monitoring plant and animal species observed, try the iNaturalist App at https://uk.inaturalist.org/. This is part of a 5 year project on Braintree District Council owned land, and carried out with the support of the Essex Wildlife Trust Wilder Towns, Wilder Villages team. We are delighted to welcome De Vere Primary School who are regularly visiting the site to record what they find.
September 2024 update
- The grass area has been mown to around 4 inches high and arisings raked aside to provide wildlife habitat but reduce nutrient levels across the site.
REWILDED AREA OBSERVATIONS
A young resident of the village has been making regular visits to the rewilding area and recording his findings. We are delighted it gives him pleasure to visit and also for the excellent records he has kept of his observations since March 2024. He has listed plants, insects and birds seen. If a plant was noted on a previous visit, he has generally not repeated it on the list for the next visits. However, insects and birds were noted on each visit.
16/3/24 2 pm
Spear thistle, Common daisy, Creeping buttercup, Cleavers, Common dandelion, Hedge cranesbill, Common ragwort, Lesser celandine, Broad-leaved dock, Hogweed, Common nettle, Cow parsley, White dead-nettle, Lords-and-ladies
7-spot ladybird. White-tailed bumblebee
Robin, Wren, Blue tit, Great tit, Goldfinch
20/3/24 3 pm
Blackbird, Magpie
4/4/24 2 pm
Meadow buttercups flowering, Cuckooflower, Ground-ivy, Common knapweed
Marmalade hoverfly, Dark-edged bee-fly, Nursery web spider, Wolf spider
Blackcap singing
23/4/24 2:15 pm
Cowslip flowering, Common sorrel
Blackbird, Blackcap
8/5/24 2 pm
Germander speedwell
Cantharis rustica beetle
Kestrel flying above area
30/5/24 2 pm
Yarrow, Field bindweed, Common mallow
Thick-legged flower beetle, Harlequin ladybird, Common blue damselfly
Great spotted woodpecker family with fledglings, Wren, Nuthatch flying across, Chaffinch singing
6/7/24 4 pm
Nipplewort
Meadow brown butterfly, Nursery web spider nurseries with young
13/7/24 2 pm
Selfheal, White clover flowering
Common red soldier beetle, Roesel’s bush-cricket, Speckled bush-cricket
Blackcap singing
30/8/24 12-2pm
Ribwort plantain
Dock bug, Stenodema laevigatum, Platydracus stercorarius, Honey bee, Common wasp, Dusona falcator, Ichneumon sarcitorius, Large white, Red admiral, Small heath, Common darter, Long-winged conehead, Dark bush-cricket, Meadow grasshopper, Field Grasshopper, Common green bottle fly, Tipula paludosa
Dunnock, Goldcrest, Coal tit. Collared dove
June 2024 Report from on-site review by Cllr Dover
- Conservation of grassland sites is a long term process and we cannot expect instant results.
- We will continue recording and responding to what we find on site and encourage residents to share their findings with us.
- Nutrient levels are still incredibly high which explains the dominant grasses. Oversowing flowers or other seeds of any kind would be a waste of time until this is reduced.
- We will continue to cut and remove once a year, this will gradually bring the nutrient levels down.
- Addition of logs on the boundary to stop damage to the site from parking and create perches/basking spots for insects, birds and reptiles.
Site walk 13th June 2024, 11am. Weather mild, light breeze, bright but cloud cover.
FLORA
The site is very much dominated by sedges and grasses. The main four noted were:
- False oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatius)
- Timothy (Phleum pratense)
- Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus)
- Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata)
Indeed looking at the site from the road, really all you would see in passing is the grass. But once you stop and walk through it you notice other plants too.
In the shorter edges are smaller flowering plants such as
- Speedwell (Veronica sp)
- Buttercup (Ranunculus sp probably Ranunculus acris forgot to check)
- Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
- Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
Standing in clumps throughout the site above the grasses were-
- Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica)
- Common Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
- Curly Leaf Dock (Rumex crispus)
- Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris) .
FAUNA
- Several Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) butterflies
- A wasp, in the Sphecidae family (It wouldn't land long enough to be sure..!)
- Lots of Ladybirds, several different species including unfortunately a probable Harlequin Ladybird, Also found some ladybird eggs on a thistle.
- Thousands of Dock Aphid (Aphis rumicis) unsurprisingly on dock plants and being shepherded by Black Ants (Lasius niger)
- Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus) On a nettle.
- Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus) On a dock...!
- Hoverfly (Not sure as again wouldn't sit still but probably Syrphus ribesii)