Local Wildlife Site

Accessible Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation

Barnet Countryside Centre

Borough: Barnet

Grade: Local

Access: Access at limited times

Area: 3.28 ha

Description

Barnet Countryside Centre was established in the 1970s from a former sports field to provide contact with farm animals and wildlife for Barnet school children. The centre kept tame donkeys, sheep and various breeds of chickens. Children also had opportunities to enjoy pond-dipping and explore a ‘tree trail’. At the time of designation, the site had not been open to schools for some years. The site is now owned by the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice and the nature reserve is managed by the Friends of Barnet Environment Centre, who provide events for the local community and activities for schools. A new Environment Centre was opened in April 2016, and in September 2019 the Ark in Barnet was opened on site to provide support for babies, children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and their families.

Wildlife

Much of the site was planted with native species woodland, offering habitat for a wide range of birds. Several small ponds sustained aquatic wildlife, including frogs, newts and the locally uncommon ruddy darter dragonfly. Slow-worms and grass snakes were also recorded on the site. More open parts of the site supported a good variety of insects including the small copper butterfly and Roesel's bush-cricket. The meadow is now managed by annual mowing, with one quarter left undisturbed to provide refuge for animals. It contains a mixture of grasses and wildflowers that attract invertebrate species such as bees, hoverflies, beetles, bush crickets, grasshoppers and many others recorded by the Barnet Environment Centre, and habitats around the meadow provide perfect homes for small mammals such as field voles, common and pygmy shrews and grass snakes. The woodland has been divided into compartments, some of which remain undisturbed for wildlife, and the trees are managed by traditional tree cutting techniques of coppicing and pollarding.

Facilities

School visits; volunteering; nature activities for youth organisations; community events

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