Tag: Nature

Wildlife in Ratby

Ratby residents will be aware of the wonderful countryside in the parish but may not realise its importance for the county’s wildlife. The combined woodlands of Martinshaw, Burroughs, Pear Tree and others give Ratby the largest area of continuous woodland cover in Leicestershire.

The Rothley Brook and its associated flood plain is a vital wildlife corridor. Historic hedgerows, ancient woodland, flower-rich meadow grassland, ponds and even gardens all help support a rich biodiversity. Indeed, Ratby has the second largest number of species of any parish in Leicestershire, with 2,329 different plants, animals and fungi recorded so far – with more being regularly added.

Local charity NatureSpot is based in Ratby and its award-winning website is all about the wildlife and wild places of Leicestershire and Rutland. As well as comprehensive image galleries, distribution maps and species descriptions, it also has feature pages about the wildlife of both parishes and individual sites.

You can view the Ratby parish page at www.naturespot.org/parish/ratby.

Here you can see a list of all the wildlife so far recorded in the parish together with the latest sightings and images, plus a links to many specific sites of wildlife interest around the village. NatureSpot also encourages the public to submit records of any wildlife sighting they make as part of its citizen science work.

Any records received from Ratby are automatically added to the parish page and help to build up our knowledge of local wildlife and ecology. The more data we have, the more importance can be given to the area.

If you’d like to help, just register on the NatureSpot website and use the Submit Records link. The on-line form makes it easy to submit a record and there is lots of help available. You can also get help identifying any wildlife species – just post an image on the ‘ID Help’ forum.