Down at Rybeank Fields off Longford Road, with a belt of mature woodland some patches of native bluebells and a bit of our history

Ryebank Fields is one of those places I have rather just taken for granted.

It’s that bit of open land at the bottom of Longford Road which for a big chunk of the 20th century was the site of our old brick works, and before that an area of pasture and meadowland.

And since the brickworks went it has slowly been developing into a fascinating site for biodiversity covering 4.6 hectares.

Its story has been covered in Stuart Marsden’s recent article  The history and natural history of MMU’s Ryebank Fields* which mixes the history of the site with a recent survey of the plant and animal life.

Written by Stuart it includes contributions from me and Lynsey Crellin an environmental consultant from The Environment Partnership (TEP), and together they “talk about the site, its history, and its current biodiversity value.”

Now this is one to read.

Picture; Ryebank Fields, 2015Stuart Marsden

*The history and natural history of MMU’s Ryebank Fields, Stuart Marsden's Conservation Research Group, http://stuartmarsden.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-history-and-natural-history-of-mmus.html