Warley Woods provides valuable habitat for a wide range of wildlife and plants and is an important green space in a heavily built up urban area. There is a rich diversity of species in Warley Woods from invertebrates to birds to mammals.

There are several leaflets which will help you identify some of the natural features of Warley Woods: (trees, birds and plants in The Wilderness).  You can pick these up at The Pavilion or see them online here.   Our Wild Warley Project is also building up a raft new guides and materials too.  Have a look here.  

Species List

This is not an exhaustive list but it will give you an idea of the variety of life that exists in Warley Woods. If you see something in Warley Woods that is not listed here, please let us know through this online form. Regional records for wildlife sightings are held by Ecorecord.  You can also let them know about your sightings too and this will be formally added to records for the region.  Ecorecord recording form can be accessed here.

 Mammals

• Grey squirrel
• Common pipistrelle bat
• Whiskered/Brandt’s bat
• Noctule bat
• Red fox
• Hedgehog
• Brown rat
• Voles
• Woodmouse

Birds

• Green woodpecker
• Great Spotted Woodpecker
• Chaffinch
• Longtailed tit
• Blue tit
• Great tit
• Chiff chaff
• Coal tit
• Goldcrest
• Tree-creeper
• Nuthatch
• Robin
• Carrion crow
• Magpie
• Feral pigeon
• Wood pigeon
• Wren
• Blackbird
• Greenfinch
• Song thrush
• Jay
• Fieldfare
• Buzzard
• Sparrowhawk
• Parakeet
• Blackcap
• Bullfinch
• Collared dove
• Stock dove
• Dunnock
• Goldfinch
• House sparrow
• Housemartin
• Swift
• Kestrel
• Willow warbler
• Garden warbler
• Pied wagtail
• Mistle thrush
• Song thrush
• Starling
• Tawny owl
• Redwing
• Black headed gull
• Herring gull
• Siskin
• Pied flycatcher
• Heron
• Mallard
• Raven
• Woodcock 

Trees include

• Red oak
• American oak
• English oak
• Sessile oak
• Horse chestnut
• Sweet chestnut
• Sycamore
• Silver birch
• Larch
• Scot’s pine
• Beech

You can see a fuller list of trees and our woodland management plan here.

Wildflowers and other plants

Bluebells and Wood anemones can be found in the Woodland.  There are a whole range of plants in The Wilderness which we are continuing to record.  We also hope for new species of flowers in the trial wildflower meadows.

In the areas that were gardens to the house and ornamental beds for the Edwardian park, a range of native and non-native shrubs and perennials can be found.  Some of the most interesting plants in Warley Woods can be found in The Wilderness.

The Wilderness

Warley Woods Community Trust has given an official make-over to a space in the park which has a chequered history; an area which had multiple uses in the past and was also the location for an illegal dump of thousands of tonnes of soil and rubble in 2004. Thankfully this area had started to regenerate naturally with the range of plants attracting new birds and insects to the park.

On the advice of local residents, the Trust decided to designate the area for wildlife and to create a new visitor attraction within the park. We secured lottery funding from the CommunitySpaces Programme, managed by GroundworkUK which enabled us to survey the area for plants and invertebrates, make it safe, accessible and understandable.  We have also used some funds from Heritage Lottery and Ibstock Enovert Trust to improve the pond area.

If you love seeing the wildlife and plants in Warley Woods as much as we do, please consider giving a donation to help with the upkeep of Warley Woods.