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24 September 2014
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NATURE
You are in: Gloucestershire > Nature > Walks > Alney Island > Stage 7
Crop fields on Alney Island
Crop fields on Alney Island
Alney Island

This stage of the walk takes you across the Alney Island nature reserve. The Island is formed because the River Severn splits into two channels around it, isolating the land in the centre. It was designated as a special nature site in 1993.
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Wheat with a camflaged butterfly
Wheat with a camouflaged butterfly
After leaving the footpath by the road you'll find yourself following a diagonal path to your right across the fields. During much of the year this field will have wheat in it. You'll soon reach the hedge and a small raised platform that gives you access to the next field. The hedge itself is also something of a wildlife treasure trove with a wide variety of insects, birds and plants making their home within.

After crossing the small footbridge you'll now be in a grass field. Again you should see a diagonal path crossing it. Keep an eye out for pheasants here - they remain very still in the long grass and suddenly fly off in a panic if you get too close. The female pheasant with her mottled brown and buff feathers is camouflaged well in the grass but the male is unmistakable with his rich red and gold feathers and dark green head.

Path across the wheat field
Path across the wheat field

From the grass field you'll reach a hedge with another stile in it. After crossing you will find yourself in another field. During the year, this field also has a wheat crop sown in it. The dirt path across this field is very clear and easy to follow. During the last ice age (Devensian - between 10,000 and 500,000 years ago) the area would have been quite something to behold. A huge ice sheet would have covered Britain as far south as Gloucestershire so, looking north during that time you would have seen the huge ice sheet in the distance. The Severn would have been fed by melt waters from the ice, which would have carried rocks and debris with it.

However, it wasn't always bitterly cold throughout the Ice Age - there were warmer periods much like the weather we're enjoying today. Modern humans moved into the area about 40,000 years ago and lived a hunter-gather existence, probably tracking the herds of woolly mammoth that roamed across the frozen plains. Fossils of the woolly mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros have been found in Gloucestershire, proving that these creatures did roam the area.

Maize
Maize can grow higher than 2.5 metres

Crossing through a stile you'll find yourself in another field. Follow the path through this one towards the electricity pylons. Passing beneath them you'll find you've moved into another field - during parts of the year you can see a maize crop. Maize grows to a height in excess of two and a half metres which is pretty spectacular as the path cuts a long straight corridor through the field (anyone who has seen the film Signs may want to give this one a miss!). Maize produces a crop of corn which has a variety of uses, mainly in the food industry. The crop is left in the field throughout the autumn in order to dry it out thoroughly and it's sometimes not harvested until winter or even early spring!

Leaving the maize corridor you'll find yourself on the bank of the East Channel of the Severn - you've just crossed from one side of Alney Island to the other. If you're really lucky you'll see the odd dragonfly flitting between the crop and the river. Follow the path along the river bank to your right and you'll eventually reach a stile. Once you've crossed over, follow the river around towards the road bridge ahead. Head under the bridge and you'll reach another stile. After crossing the stile you'll find yourself amongst some trucks and caravans. Head to your left and follow the road straight ahead. Take a left at the end of the road and follow the footpath around and to your right. You will find that you're now heading under another road bridge. Keep to the left and head out the other side, still following the river. If you look left at this point you should see the cathedral.

Jackdaw

Discover more...
Check out our Alney Island wildlife guide to find out what creatures you could see on the walk!

Click here to launch the wildlife guide

After crossing another stile, you need to follow the path across some wet grasslands. Again, the pathway skirts the East Channel of the River Severn. These wet grasslands are also a haven for wildlife and you may see black slugs in great numbers. Slugs love damp places which is why they thrive in the damp grass. Slugs are members of the mollusc family and they survive by eating plant material. In this kind of habitat they form an important part of the food chain, providing meals for other animals like birds. However you won't see many of them in winter because frost kills them off. Slug eggs survive the winter and hatch in the spring.

Grasshopper
A Grasshopper

Also, as you walk through the grass, you might notice that something's moving. If you look closely you'll see grasshoppers. Their green/brown colours are perfect camouflage in this grass but they, too, form an important part of the food chain in the area.

Alney Island was also, possibly, the scene of an important medieval battle. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Cnut, the Danish king, fought and defeated the English king Edmund Ironside there in 1016.

Following the grass path you'll eventually reach the beginning of a tarmac pathway. Take a left here and cross the footbridge over the East Channel of the River Severn.

...You're now approaching Gloucester Docks and the final stage of the walk.

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Visit ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Science & Nature's  Bird section
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Putting up nest boxes and feeders will help attract a variety of birds to your garden, but a spot of wildlife gardening can be a great way to provide food for free! MORE
Visit  ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Science & Nature's  Mammals section
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Plants can provide mammals with a variety of food from berries and nuts to prey. A truly mammal-friendly garden also needs plenty of shelter. MORE
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Natural History on your walk
Our Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The rock record or ‘geological time’ extends back to 4 billion years ago.

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