Grid Ref: SK968724
Landscape Value
Visually prominent hillside site used as a children's play area and for informal recreation.
Together
with the adjacent Hobbler's Hole this land maintains an important link in the chain of open spaces
which comprise the proposed West
Lincoln Green Wedge.
28. Hobbler's Hole ( OPS )
Grid Ref: SK967724
Status: Site of Nature Conservation Importance (Lincolnshire Trust)
This site is a sloping area of neutral unimproved grassland with marshy areas and
scrub. There is a
small pond on the site. The site has been designated as Critical Natural Asset for the following
reasons:
1) The 3ha site is the only one in Lincoln to consist of neutral grassland, representing
1% of
Lincoln's neutral grassland/marsh resource. It also has areas of marshy grassland, and supports a
pond with marginal flora. The site supports an assemblage of grassland and marsh species,
including ladies bedstraw Galium verum, black medick Medicago lupulina, bird's-foot trefoil Lotus
corniculatus and common vetch Vicia sativa, that suggest the site is agriculturally unimproved.
Unimproved neutral grassland has declined by 74% in Lincolnshire since 1938.
2) The site supports the following rare and endangered species;
Great crested newt Triturus cristatus
See Greetwell Hollow Quarry for description.
Trifid bur-marigold Bidens tripartite
See Delph Drains for description. This species was re-discovered at this site in 1994.
3) The site supports a mature hawthorn Cratagaeus monogyna hedge with associated species
such as white bryony Bryonia dioica, hedge woundwort Stachys sylvatica and black bryony Tamus
communis. It also provides cover for breeding bird species including spotted flycatcher and willow
warbler. Mature hedgerows are extremely uncommon in urban situations.
4) The site is a component in a complex of SNCIs along Burton Road in the north of
the City,
providing a valuable wildlife corridor, in an area otherwise impoverished of such interest. Other sites
in this complex include West Cliff, Burton Road, West Common and Old Quarry.
Landscape Value
Visually prominent
hillside site. Together with the adjacent Whitton's Park this land maintains an
important link in the chain of open spaces which comprise the proposed West Lincoln Green
Wedge.