Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

Much of the site is dominated by coarse grasses such as common and creeping bents, false oat-grass and tufted hair-grass. However, the land sloping to the south, east and west margins support more herb-rich grassland where species such as agrimony, bird's-foot-trefoil and common knapweed are common. These areas also include sneezewort, associated with old grassland, and dwarf gorse, both of which are rare in London and possibly a remnant of heathland vegetation. There are also areas of invading scrub from the northern and eastern boundary hedges, dominated by blackthorn, elm, hawthorn and gorse. The site supports a range of common butterflies including common blue, Essex skipper and meadow brown, as well as breeding birds such as skylark and meadow pipit. The two ponds have well-developed and moderately diverse vegetation, with a stonewort in the larger northern pond and abundant broad-leaved pondweed in the southern. Both support good numbers of common dragonflies and are of value to amphibians. The site extends to the south along Tomkyns Lane and Shepherd's Hill with addition areas of common land. These include a rich mosaic of scrub, tall herbs, neutral grassland and old boundary oak trees, with ground plants including three-nerved sandwort and wavy hair-grass.

Facilities

Car parking; horse riding; fishing