Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

The habitats within the park include woodland, ancient and recently planted hedges, streams and ponds. Most of the planted trees at the Centre are native broadleaves, with a little Scots pine and larch. In some parts of the site the trees are still small and grow among grassland, tall herbs and bramble scrub. Some of the ancient hedges have old hollow pollards and one contains a wild service-tree. Elsewhere, more recently planted hedges include frequent corn parsley in the adjacent grassland. Other boundaries are formed by streams with treelines of oak and various willows, areas dominated by great reedmace and reed canary-grass, and with quite diverse wet tall herb. Water voles are present here. There are two man-made ponds, one of which features an island with mature oak and crack willow trees. The other pond has well-developed aquatic vegetation including the uncommon lesser reedmace, as well as a pond-dipping platform. A water crowfoot is also well established.

Facilities

Information; visitor centre; exhibitions; education room; outdoor classroom; car parking; disabled facilities; quiet room; toilets; café; shop; pond-dipping platform; children’s play areas; events; room hire; walking routes; cycle hire; horse riding