Dagnam Park, a historic landscape designed by Humphry Repton, is comprised of a variety of habitats including species-rich grassland, woodland, hedges and ponds.The grasslands form a mosaic of types from acid to neutral, and free-draining to wet.Woodland areas (of which Hatter’s Wood in the south-west is the most significant) are typically dominated by pedunculate oak and hornbeam. Ponds in the more open areas support a range of wetland plant life.Dagnam Park is owned by the London Borough of Havering and managed as a Local Nature Reserve.
Local Wildlife Site
Accessible Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation
Dagnam Park and Hatter's Wood
Borough: Havering
Grade: Metropolitan
Access: Free public access (all/most of site)
Area: 74.64 ha
Description
Wildlife
The site features several locally uncommon plants including common spotted-orchid, square-stemmed St Johns-wort and sharp-flowered rush. It also has a number of pollarded veteran oaks, likely to be of importance for fungi and insects. Hatter's Wood has typical woodland wildflowers including bluebell and wood anemone.Among a wide variety of plants the ponds support fine-leaved water-dropwort, which is rare in London. They also support important populations of amphibians, including the specially-protected great crested newt.The site as a whole is important for its breeding and wintering birds, including skylark, yellowhammer, hawfinch, jackdaw and various thrushes.Facilities
Fishing.
Great crested newt © Will Atkins
Sunset at Dagnam Park © Alan Cooper
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