WARMSWORTH PARK QUARRY SSI (SE/5400)
Species recorded during the Doncaster Naturalists’ Society visit on the evening of Wednesday 8th May 1996.
Habitats :-
Crags = species growing in rock fissures, on cliff ledges or festooning the limestone quarry faces.
Lawns = series of closely mown lawns.
Shade = Shaded places and bare soil.
Tall herbage = tall vegetation usually against the bases of cliff faces.
BOTANY
| Botanical name | Vernacular name | Habitat |
| Acer pseudoplatanus | Sycamore | |
| Achillea millifolium | Yarrow | Lawns; Tall herbage |
| Alliaria petiolata | Garlic Mustard | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Anthriscus sylvestris | Cow Parsley | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Arctium minus | Burdock | Tall herbage |
| Arrhenatherum elatius | False Oat-grass | Tall herbage |
| Artemisia vulgaris | Common Mugwort | Tall herbage |
| Bellis perennis | Daisy | Lawns |
| Bryonia dioica | White Bryony | Crags |
| Capsella bursa-pastoris | Shepherd’s Purse | Shade |
| Cardamine flexuosa | Wavy Bittercress | Crags |
| Centaurea nigra | Knapweed | Lawns |
| Cerastium fontanum | Mouse-ear | Lawns |
| Chamerion angustifolius | Rosebay | Tall herbage |
| Cirsium arvense | Creeping Thistle | Shade |
| Cirsium vulgare | Spear Thistle | Tall herbage |
| Convolvulus arvensis | Field Bindweed | Crags |
| Cotoneaster horizontalis | Horizontal Cotoneaster | Crags |
| Cotoneaster sp. | Cotoneaster sp. | Crags |
| Crataegus monogyna | Hawthorn | |
| Dactylis glomerata | Cock’s-foot Grass | Tall herbage |
| Epilobium montanum | Broad-leaved Willowherb | Shade |
| Equisetum arvense | Field Horsetail | Lawns |
| Fallopia aubertii | Russian Vine | Crags |
| Fagus sylvaticus | Beech | |
| Fraxinus excelsior | Ash | |
| Galium aparine | Cleavers | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Geranium robertianum | Herb Robert | Shade |
| Geum urbanum | Wood Avens | Lawns |
| Glechoma hederacea | Ground Ivy | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Hedera helix | Ivy | Crags |
| Heracleum sphondylium | Hogweed | Tall herbage |
| Heracleum montegazzianum | Giant Hogweed | Tall herbage at crag foot. |
| Holcus lanatus | Yorkshire Fog | Lawns |
| Hordeum murenum | Wall barley | Tall herbage |
| Hypochaeris radicata | Common Cat’s-ear | Lawns |
| Lamium album | White Dead-nettle | Tall herbage |
| Lamium purpureum | Red Dead-nettle | Tall herbage |
| Leontodon autumnalis | Autumn Hawkbit | Lawns |
| Ligustrum ovalifolium | Garden Privet | |
| Lunaria annua | Honesty | Tall herbage |
| Mahonia aquifolium | Oregon Grape | |
| Muscari neglectum | Grape Hyacinth | in soil on rocky outcrop |
| Mycelis muralis | Wall Lettuce | Shade: Crags |
| Philadelphus virginale | Mock Orange | |
| Plantago lanceolata | Lanceolate Plantain | Lawns |
| Plantago major | Rat-tail plantain | Lawns |
| Poa annua | Annual Meadow-grass | Lawns |
| Prunus avium | Wild Cherry | |
| Ranunculus ficaria | Lesser Celandine | Shade |
| Ranunculus repens | Creeping Buttercup | Lawns; Tall herbage |
| Reynoutria japonica | Japanese Knotweed | Shade |
| Rosa spp. | (Cultivated rose) | |
| Rubus fruticosa | Bramble | Crags |
| Rumex acetosa | Common Sorrel | Lawns |
| Rumex obtusifolius | Broad Dock | Lawns; Tall herbage |
| Sambucus nigra | Elder | Tall herbage |
| Sedum sp. | (Species to be determined) | Crags |
| Alisum (Yellow) | (Species to be determined) | Crags |
| Senecio jacobaea | Common Ragwort | Lawns; Tall herbage |
| Senecio squalidus | Oxford Ragwort | Path edges |
| Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel | Shade |
| Silene alba | White Campion | Tall herbage |
| Sisymbrium officinale | Hedge Mustard | Tall herbage |
| Sonchus arvensis | Perennial Sow-thistle | Tall herbage |
| Sonchus asper | Prickly Sow-thistle | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Sonchus oleraceus | Smooth Sow-thistle | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Stellaria media | Common Chickweed | Shade |
| Tanacetum parthenium | Feverfew | Crags; Path edges; Tall herbage |
| Taraxacum officinale | Dandelion | Lawns; Tall herbage |
| Trifolium pratense | Red Clover | Lawns |
| Trifolium repens | White Clover | Lawns |
| Tussilago farfara | Colt’s-foot | Tall herbage |
| Ulmus glabra | Wych Elm (many suckering shrubby areas on the crags or the hedgerows above the crags here parent trees had been felled). | |
| Urtica dioica | Stinging Nettle | Shade; Tall herbage |
| Veronica Chamaedrys | Germander Speedwell | Lawns |
| Vinca major | Great Periwinkle | Shade |
VERTEBRATES
Birds
S = singing (holding territory)
Y = young
| Blackbird | (S;Y) | Song thrush | (S;Y) |
| Mistle Thrush | (S;Y) | Robin | (S) |
| Dunnock | (S) | Blackcap | (S) |
| Willow Warbler | (S) | House Sparrow | |
| Black-headed gull | (Overhead) | Blue Tit | (S;Y) |
| Great Tit | (S) | Long-tailed Tit | |
| Collared Dove | Wood Pigeon | ||
| Magpie | Jackdaw | ||
| Starling | (Y) | Swallow | |
| Wren | (S) | Goldfinch | (S) |
| Greenfinch | (S) | Chaffinch | (S) |
Notes :-
The limestone cliff ledges and fissures, though having a considerable botanical potential, strangely do not appear to support many (or indeed any) of the limestone cliff and quarry specialist species of the nearby Don Gorge quarries. Neither do they support the limestone wall species once typical of such places as Conisbrough or Tickhill Castles.
Active quarrying and landfill developments are threatening such species in the Don Gorge, and over-clinical management regimes are removing colonists from the walls of historic buildings.
I would propose that the Parks management officers at the DMBC Leisure Services Directorate be contacted with the proposal to use the cliffs at Warmsworth Quarry Park as a wild flower refugium for interesting and endangered local limestone wall and cliff species. Perhaps the Society could ‘adopt’ a cliff face.
Species which could be considered for introduction include :-
Clove Pink (Dianthus caryophyllus) (once at Tickhill Castle)
Pelitary-of-the-Wall (Parietaria judaica (once very abundant at Conisbrough and Tickhill Castles)
Wild Wallflower (Cheiranthus cheiri) (once abundant on the walls at Tickhill Castle)
Wild Antirrhinum (Antirrhinum majus) (once abundant on the walls at Tickhill Castle)
Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) (once abundant on the walls at Tickhill Castle)
Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria) (once present on the walls at Tickhill Castle)
Colin Howes, (Environmental Records Officer), Doncaster Museums & Arts Service
20.5.1996