Soar-GUC, Leicester A47 to A6
Selected Wild Place / Other Wild Places / Public Rights of Way / VC55 boundary
The continuous footpath along the western side of the navigable waterway can be joined at the either end, and also from the A50 road bridge. There is a small car park at the southeast corner of Abbey Park that is accessed from the A6, this leads directly onto the canal towpath-footpath that passes under the A6 and continues southwards throughout the length of this wild place.
Total species seen at this site:
This stretch of the River Soar-Grand Union Canal extends for about a mile north from the double road bridges of the A47 (St Augustine Road) to the A6 that runs along the southwestern side of Abbey Park. Just north of the A47 the iconic Friars Mill building lies on the eastern bank before the canal and river are split with two weirs separating the unnavigable river running immediately west of the Canal. These two components then diverge and continue north east to the A6. There is a continuous towpath-footpath along the western bank of the canalised waterway throughout, but the short separate stretch of the River Soar is flanked by commercial properties and can only be viewed from the A50 road bridge at Frog Island.
Birds
Herons, Cormorant, Kingfisher, Common Tern, Grey Wagtail. Swift, House and Sand Martin and Swallow.
Trees and Plants
Willow family several species, Alder, water meadows rich in flowers and grasses.
Water Margins: Purple Loosestrife, Indian Balsam. Garden Angelica (recent colonist), Lesser Celandine, Marsh Thistle, Marsh Woundwort, Water Mint, Water Figwort.
Aquatics: Arrowhead, Water Plantain, Floating Pennywort (a nuisance) and Yellow Water-lily (consult individual species pages for flowering season and known distributions)
Insects
Butterflies all common widely distributed species, Dragonflies Southern, Brown and Migrant Hawker, Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer, all 3 Chasers and Ruddy and Common Darters. Damselflies Beautiful Demoiselle, Common Blue, Blue-tailed, Large Red and Red-eyed Damselfly (favours lily pads). (Look at individual species pages for flight seasons)
Molluscs Giant Ramshorn, River Snail, Swan and Duck Mussel plus the invasive Zebra Mussel and Asian Clam.
Fish Perch, Pike, Tench and Roach
Trends and Recent Developments along the navigable watercourse from Leicester to the Trent are as follows
A colony of the Scarce Chaser Dragonfly was discovered near Ratcliffe on Soar in 2016, with 12 individuals present in 2018. The nearest other sightings in VC55 are at Rutland Water.
The Willow Emerald Damselfly was first reported in VC55 in 2019 at the Eye Brook Reservoir Inflow and then from Watermead. This species is likely to spread to the whole Soar Valley in next 2-3 years. Most sightings are in September, the species prefer overhanging willows which are abundant.
Garden Angelica has spread northwards through much of the Soar Valley in recent years, the large globe-shaped flower-heads of this umbellifer are distinctive.
Corbicula flaminea, The Asian Clam is an accidentally introduced species speading south along the Soar Valley.
Please be sure to report any sightings of these species
The records and images below may include those from adjacent sites if the grid reference submitted with these records overlaps the boundary of this Wild Place.
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
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