Brownhills and the Slough
Description
Brownhills Common consists of a mosaic of several habitat types. Marshy grassland with scattered flush communities cover sizeable areas of the site. These are dominated by purple moor-grass with mat-grass, heath rush and small amounts of cross-leaved heath. The acid flushes are characterised by cotton grass, spike rush, marsh pennywort and cushions of bog mosses. Pools present add to the diversity.
Dry heath/acid grasslands form mosaics consisting of a mixture of heath, wavy hair-grass and tufted hair-grass. Much of this site is covered by dense to scattered scrub, which provides good cover for birds. Snipe have been recorded here.
Coppice Lane is a block of ancient semi-natural woodland. Lying on an acid substrate, it is dominated by oak and birch with a typically species-poor ground layer with wavy hair-grass and locally abundant bilberry.
The site is bisected by a dismantled railway line. This has a diverse and interesting flora and is being developed as a nature trail.
The Slough, again, consists of a mosaic of habitats. These range from open canal and pond water to re-colonised dry spoil mounds form previous industrial activities. Flora includes lesser marshwort, flowering rush, floating water plantain and fine leaved water dropwort.
Management Recommendations
A management plan has been written for this site. The main requirement is for control f birch encroachment. Acid flushes and pools should be maintained by prevention of infilling and pollution.
The canal should similarly be prevented from infilling.