Cecilly Brook & Hales Hall Pool: Cheadle's Vital Wildlife Corridor
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Taking a stroll along Cecilly Brook during May or June will reveal a wealth of wildlife. We caught up with Mark Preece, Senior Reserves Officer at Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (SWT), who manages the area, to find out more.
The reserve forms a green corridor through Cheadle, with the brook snaking a natural winding course. Incredibly, we still have a small population of water voles living here. They are the UK’s fastest declining mammal. This is due to habitat loss but also predation by American mink, an invasive species which were released from mink farms in the 1970s.
A hard surfaced path allows access along most of the reserve which is dominated by several fine crack willow trees. We pollard(cut) the branches periodically which increases their longevity and value for wildlife.
You can listen out for the repeated songs of song thrush which may be singing from the top of a crack willow.
Young willow scrub is a good place to listen out for spring migrant birds, such as willow warbler and chiffchaff. Resident birds include flocks of beautiful yellow siskin. We also have 'charms' of goldfinch, singing chaffinch, and greenfinch. If you're lucky you might also hear the call of the declining willow tit.
Groups of alder trees are dotted along the brook. The siskins particularly love their cones and they’re an important food sourced during winter months. Groups of trees attract bats which feed on insects. If you visit in the evening, you are likely to see common pipistrelle flitting about.
In late May and into June the uncut areas of grass come alive with wildflowers. They are in fact hay meadows which SWT created by strewing green hay from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s Rod Wood nature reserve about 12 years ago. Over 20 species have been recorded here – pretty amazing as this was once just amenity grass with minimal diversity.
Flowers to look out for are southern marsh orchid, common spotted orchid, common knapweed, and meadow vetchling. The meadows attract a wealth of insect life - butterflies like the orange tip, small copper, meadow brown, and ringlets have all been seen here.
There are further meadows just below the Thorley Drive football pitches. Patches of blackthorn scrub and mixed hedgerows provide habitat for a variety of birds like the dunnock and chiffchaff. Look out for patches of yellow rattle too. This is known as the ‘meadow maker’ as it’s a plant which supresses the growth of dominant grasses. All the meadows are managed traditionally. This means we don't cut the hay until late, allowing enough time for the plants to go to seed and drop them so they set. This boosts their growth for the following year and keeps the meadows botanically diverse.
Hales Hall Pool
This site features a 4.3 acre man-made lake which was formerly linked to Hales Hall. It's the size of over four Olympic size swimming pools. It also features a historic avenue created by plantations of two lines of yew trees and a circular path.
Here are some interesting insects to look out for on your walk:
Cecilly Brook & Hales Hall Pool: Cheadle's Vital Wildlife Corridor - created 29th May 2026
