Hengrove Mounds is a hidden gem near to the popular Hengrove Playpark. Continue round the path and you’ll discover a wildlife haven that has developed over an old landfill site. The mounds are home to some spectacular wildlife including wildflowers such as corky-fruited water drop-wort (what a name!), birds foot trefoil and the beautiful bee orchid, along with some unusual insects like the nationally scarce carrot-mining bee - a small solitary bee that feeds it’s young with the pollen from the wild carrot wildflower!
Over recent years, scrubby patches at Hengrove Mounds have overcrowded grasslands full of wildflowers, which support a whole host of wildlife like bees, butterflies, moths, birds and small mammals. A more sustainable and natural way to keep scrub at bay is to use grazing animals. The goat’s hardy nature and ability to forage in scrubby bramble patches make them excellent conservation grazing animals. Nibbling the bramble patches will help limit the spread of scrub across the site, enabling wildflowers to flourish and the wildlife that depends on these flowers and grasses to thrive. Goats are also able to climb low branches of trees, by chomping new shoots and leaves they clip trees such as hawthorn into dense balls, which provide brilliant habitats for nesting birds.
