Moxley Hospital Grounds

This site is made up of a woodland on old colliery spoil mounds with much sycamore and also ash, birch, poplar, alder and pools with a varied landscape and diverse vegetation surrounding them. The woodland has little intrinsic appeal, but the pools and their associated matrix of habitats formed from shale / clinker promontories are quite exceptional. The area has scrub, tall herb vegetation, wet flushes and small wooded patches giving rise to a diverse flora.

Pool flora and fauna

The two pools present have some interesting marginal aquatics with great reedmace, spike rush, bur-reed and water plantain. In the pools themselves, tow species of water crowfoot are growing with broad-leaved pondweed. Of particular interest is bul-rush and mare's tail, the latter growing in abundance in places. Both of these species are particularly rare in the area.

The site is used as an amenity area and provides a valuable public resource.

Management recommendations

Walsall Community Projects Limited have undertaken management of the site making it an amenity area. Any further management should primarily be aimed at reducing disturbance and checking scrub encroachment, particularly in wetland area. Sycamore should not be allowed to invade.