Stanmore Common Nature Trail
Return trail post 5: This clearing is called Hollybrook Rise after the stream that flows to its west. Like the other open areas on the reserve it is cut by hand to create a complex mix of low and high vegetation including small miniclearings which will catch the sun but are shielded from the wind by a sparse covering of bracken and taller uncut vegetation. Look in particular for the acid grassland specialist heath bedstraw Galium saxitile with its sprays of tiny white flowers, and heath wood-rush Luzula multiflora with flowering heads like bulbous brown balls.

To description for return trail post 6

More on some of the birds you are likely to see or hear on the Common

More on the three species of deer on the Common and their tracks

Click here to learn more about the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum including guided walks and conservation workdays.