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About the Trap Grounds


The Trap Grounds Town Green & Local Wildlife Site in north Oxford lies immediately south of the Frenchay Road canal bridge (nearest postcode OX2 6TF). An information board on the towpath marks the entrance to three acres of reed bed and seven acres of woodland, grassland, stream, and ponds. The site (open to visitors 24/7) is owned by Oxford City Council and managed for conservation, recreation, and education by the Friends of the Trap Grounds, a group of local volunteers. For more information about current events and activities, the history and wildlife status of the site, and our campaign to save it as a Town Green, visit www.trap-grounds.org.uk. You can also contact the Secretary via the website.

If you are not an authorised poster and would like to submit a photo for consideration for posting on this blog then please e-mail: cmrobinson DOT oxford AT gmail DOT com

Monday, August 26, 2019

August is a purple month


Purple flowers are everywhere on the Trap Grounds this month, in the form of thistles, teasels, marjoram, mallow, knapweed, water mint, hemp agrimony, clustered bellflower, buddleia and michaelmas daisies (both of them garden escapes) ... and (photographed below) Great Willowherb, Rosebay Willowherb, Purple Loosestrife, and Phragmites australis.

Great Willowherb. (C. Robinson, Trap Grounds, August 2019)

Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum -- 'hirsutum' refers to the softly hairy stem) frequents damp places and flourishes on the banks of the TG ponds and streams. Many insects feed on the leaves, including the Elephant Hawkmoth, Deilephila elpenor. This is the largest of all the willowherbs, even taller than the spiky-flowered Rosebay Willowherb (below), which flourishes on waste ground.


Rosebay Willowherb (C. Robinson, Trap Grounds, August 2019)

Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria (below), even taller than Great Willowherb, is another plant that flourishes in reedbeds, marshes, and riverbanks. Its nectar is a valuable food source for long-tongued insects, such as Brimstone butterflies, Red-tailed Bumblebees, and Elephant Hawkmoths.

Purple Loosestrife (C. Robinson, Trap Grounds, August 2019)

Even our ubiquitous reeds, Phragmites australis, providing safe havens for Water Voles, Water Rails, Reed Buntings, and Reed Warblers, produce purple flowers in dense panicles in August.


Phragmites australis (C. Robinson, Trap Grounds, August 2019)

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