Wildlife and habitats

Sandford Lake
This is a conservation area managed for wildfowl. To encourage nesting we remove low ground vegetation on the islands in the lake. This has proved beneficial to birds, with many, including common terns, now nesting on the islands. Other areas surrounding the lake are also kept free of scrub to encourage an existing sedge bed

Interesting species: Tufted duck, smew, gadwall, goldeneye, pochard, teal, water rail, hobby, sparrowhawk and shoveller.

Lavell's Lake
This lake with scrub areas and wader scrape is devoted to nature conservation and managed specifically to encourage a rich and varied bird population. Water levels are regulated on the wader scrape to keep the water shallow, allowing wading birds to feed. This is done through a combination of sluice gates and pumps.

Coppicing occurs on sections of the site during the winter months to provide habitat for birds to nest. There is no public access to about half the site, to ensure rare nesting birds have peace and quiet. The site is a British Trust for Ornithology - BTO - Constant effort site, which means the BTO monitor the bird population of this site to help compile their national records.

Interesting species: Common Sandpiper, water rail, bittens, red shank, green sandpipper, snipe, teal, reed and sedge warbler, blackcap, crickets, grasshoppers, grass snakes, dragonflies and damselflies and bats.

Black Swan Lake
This is our water sports lake, home to a public day ticket sailing club. To ensure they have good visibility and wind for sailing we keep sections of bank side vegetation low. Goats are also kept on islands in the lake for this reason.

Weed in the lake has been kept under control through a variety of methods over the years, including chemical treatment and mechanical raking. This is necessary to prevent boats getting stuck in the weed. We are now trying a more natural approach, by raising fish numbers in the lake. As well as eating the weed, increasing our fish stock will increase turbidity of the water, making the water cloudier. This will reduce the amount of light reaching the weed, which, due to a reduction of photosynthesis, will restrict growth of the plants.

Despite the recreational use of this lake it is still a very good place to see many winter wildfowl. The bays on the lake are undisturbed and make excellent feeding grounds.

A circular route around the our this lake is the main route taken by the majority of visitors and so paths are well maintained and vegetation cut back to allow access.

Interesting species: Bats, dragonflies, hobby, sparrowhawk, gadwall, pochard, tufted duck, Golden eye and mallard.

White Swan Lake
This lake is used for angling and is widely recognised as one of the country's premier specimen fish waters. It is stocked with carp, bream, tench and pike, and managed to promote a healthy fish stock. There are small platforms around the lake for fishing suitable for disabled access.

An established reed bed occurs at the northern end and is being encouraged to spread to benefit a variety of wildlife. As well as providing valuable habitats for birds and small mammals red beds also protect banks from erosion and filter the water, helping to keep it clean.

Interesting species: Harvest mice, reed bunting, kingfishers, red eyed damselfly, common blue damsel fly, blue tailed damselfly, emperor dragonfly, hawker dragonflies, blacktailed skimmer dragonfly and bittern.

Grazing meadow
These areas are managed as wildflower meadows. They are fenced and during the summer months are grazed by cattle. This is a traditional method of looking after grassland. It encourages survival of wildflowers such as ragged robin & marsh marigolds, as the cows eat grasses, which would otherwise out compete the flowers. Meadows managed in this way are good for insects, including those attracted by cow dung, and consequently great feeding places for bats. They also provide ideal nesting conditions for many ground nesting birds and sky larks.

Interesting species: Oxeye daisy, black knapweed, wild orchids and marsh marigolds, ladies bedstraw, cowslips, grasshoppers, crickets, grass snakes, bats.

Redwood Lake
Redwood Lake collects water from the surrounding roads and is consequently of poor quality. The Countryside Service, in partnership with the Environment Agency, is trying to encourage a reed bed to establish to help filter and improve water quality. Reed beds are valuable habitats for birds and small mammals. A good example of an established reed bed can be found on White Swan Lake. There are oil booms on the inflow and outflow of this lake to intercept any pollution that may occur.

Interesting species: Harvest mice, reed warbler, reed bunting, and bittens.

Copse
These small woodland areas are managed by coppicing. This means that the trees, predominantly hazel, are cut just above ground level on a regular basis (once every 8 –15 years). The root system remains in tact however, allowing the tree to grow back relatively quickly producing a regular crop of wood. It is a traditional form of woodland management and is beneficial to many species, e.g. birds and spring flowers.

Interesting species: Chiff chaff, lesser spotted woodpecker, bluebells, wood anemones, willow warbler, garden warbler and blackcap.

Hay cut meadows
These areas are cut mechanically in the summer and the cuttings removed. This stops thick grass dominating, allowing more delicate wildflowers to survive. This way of managing wildflower meadows is sometimes more suitable where visitor numbers are high, as there is less impact on visitors. However the diversity of subsequent wildflowers is less than when grazed.

Interesting species: Great Burnet, red clover, oxeye daisy and black knapweed, birdsfoot trefoil.

River Loddon
The Environment Agency has the responsibility to remove any major obstructions from the riverbanks to allow water to flow freely in the event of floods. To encourage otters to return to the river we our constructing brick otter holts along the river bank, hopefully providing suitable homes for recolonisation.

We occasionally cut channels in the waterweed as this helps keep floodwater moving and maintains suitable fishing areas. There are some shallow, gravel fish spawning areas on the river and every few years overhanging trees are cut back to maintain these sites.

Interesting species: Loddon lily, Loddon pondweed, brown trout, salmon, barbel (a fish), water voles, kingfishers, banded agrion damselfly, migrant hawker dragonfly and white legged damselfly.

Woodland edge
These are small areas of scrub and trees, which provide excellent nesting habitats for birds. There are many footpaths alongside this scrub, the rough grassland beside these footpaths is cut back regularly during the summer to stop vegetation encroaching on the oaths. The scrub is cut back on a long term rotation, this promotes dense regrowth. Dense scrub like this is ideal for many bird species such as nightingales.

Some mature trees are a valuable part of this woodland. Management of these is minimal creating variety and encouraging dead wood, which is an ideal habitat for many invertebrates such as stag beetles and provides roosting sites for creatures such as bats.

Interesting species: Nightingales, winter flocks of fieldfares attracted to berries and reed bunting.

Ponds
There are few large fish in these waters, reducing predation of invertebrate and amphibians. These are fairly shallow too, which helps keep the water warm, being of further benefit to amphibians.

Interesting species: Great crested newts, dragonflies, kingfisher, heron, broad bodied chaser and large red damselfly.