Scotton Common
Parish: Scotton
OS: 112 • GR: SK 873985 • Map ref: 42
63.60 hectares (158.10acres) • Freehold 1954
Habitat type: Heathland
The Joe Duddington Memorial Reserve
Location and Access
The reserve lies on the left-hand side of the road leading to Scotton village from the A159 Gainsborough-Scunthorpe road. There are two entrances to the reserve. Some 300 m from the A159, on the left and just past the nursery, is a small footpath with restricted parking. Please avoid parking on the protected roadside verge. A further kilometre (0.6 miles) down the road is the main entrance where a gate gives access to a car park. Once on the reserve, please take special care during the nesting season. Adders occur in the reserve. There is a high fire risk during the summer months.
Following Joe Duddington's death in 1992 at the age of 81, the reserve was dedicated to him. Joe was a well known and loved local lepidopterist. There is a memorial stone erected in his memory near the car park.
Description and Management
This low-lying tract, the largest remaining fragment of the once extensive heathlands of Scotton Common, is covered in its drier parts by ling and by developing oak, birch and pine woodland. At the eastern end of the heath, on ground that was ploughed in the Second World War, wavy hair-grass is dominant. In wetter parts there is much purple moor-grass and cross-leaved heath; rarer species, such as bog asphodel and marsh gentian, also occur. To save it from destruction on a nearby site, the shrubby bog myrtle has been established in the reserve. Although some species of butterfly have become scarce or even disappeared in recent years, the list of butterflies and moths is impressive and includes many scarce and localised species, including a thriving population of emperor moth. Sandy banks attract solitary mining bees. Breeding birds include tree pipit and woodlark. Adders and common lizards are numerous.
The principal management problems, as on most of our heathland reserves, are to maintain open heath by preventing encroachment of birch and pine scrub, and to halt the loss of wet heath species, such as sundews, which are suffering from a falling water-table. Since 1993 some 4 hectares (10 acres) of birch and pine have been felled. The whole reserve is now enclosed with sheep fencing, and grazing with Hebridean sheep is being carried out at appropriate times to prevent birch re-growth. It is hoped that tree removal will make the reserve wetter again. Nightjars have not bred for some years, but it is hoped that they may return.
After the recent felling there is no defined waymarked route over most of the reserve at present, although access to all parts of the reserve is easy. A new route will be made in due course. Until that time particular care is needed to avoid nesting birds.
The long verges adjoining the reserve are among the protected roadside verges scheduled by the County Council and the Trust (PRV 015). While visiting the reserve, walk along the verge bordering the reserve where you will see vetches, clovers, marsh thistle, comfrey and twayblade among the many grasses. On the opposite side of the road look for bog pimpernel in the ditches, and ferns and mosses on the banks. Many butterflies are to be seen, including brimstone, ringlet and skippers.
In 1988 an area of heathy fields of around 16 hectares (40 acres) to the north of the old reserve, known as Scotton Beck Fields, was purchased by the Trust. This area, which is reached by turning right off the access track between the car park and the road via a bridge and stile, is rich in heathland plants, including ling, cross-leaved heath and marsh gentian. The beck and streamside support bur-reed, floating sweet-grass, fool's water-cress, water mint and water forget-me-not. The old meanders contain kingcup, cuckooflower and marsh violet.
