Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

The watercourses and drainage ditches support a diverse range of water plants, including many uncommon species. Among these are shining pondweed, tubular water-dropwort, whorl-grass, marsh dock, arrowhead, pink water-speedwell and marsh-marigold. A very rare plant indeed has recently been discovered beside a ditch on Walthamstow Marshes - creeping marshwort. This is the second of only two sites remaining in the entire country. Brookweed and blunt-flowered rush (both very rare in London) grow nearby. The wet marshy grassland supports ragged-robin, square-stemmed St John's-wort, adder's-tongue fern and ‘graceful' sedge - a rare hybrid between slender-tufted and lesser pond-sedges. The Lea Valley is immensely important for its birdlife. Parts of the site hold internationally important numbers of wintering gadwall and shoveler, and the collectively-named Walthamstow Reservoirs (including Lockwood, Maynard and Warwick Reservoirs) are major refuges for other waterfowl species as well. These include tufted duck, great crested grebe, goosander and goldeneye. Birds of conservation concern breeding locally include kingfisher, skylark (on Walthamstow Marshes), little ringed plover and lapwing (Waterworks NR), yellow wagtail and reed bunting. Large numbers of swifts and house martins regularly forage over the waterbodies in summer. London's largest grey heron colony breeds on several of the wooded islands in Walthamstow Reservoirs. The reedbeds and other riverside habitats support a number of rare insects. These include several rare wetland moths, such as the dotted fan-foot, Webb's wainscot and brown-veined wainscot. The emerald and red-eyed damselflies, both scarce in London, also fly here.

Facilities

Information (including at the Three Mills Museum); car parking; cycle paths; fishing; sailing; horse riding; nature trail; sculptures/ monuments; waymarked walking routes