| Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust | |
| Headquarters: | Curdridge |
| Location: | Hampshire |
| Membership: | 25,000 |
| Website: | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust website |
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is a Wildlife Trust with 27,000 members across the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, England.[1]
The trust describes itself as the leading local wildlife conservation charity in Hampshire and the Island with the stated aim of improving conditions for wildlife on land and at sea. The organisation also runs community engagement events helping local people find out about their local wild places.[2]
The trust currently manages 46 wildlife reserves, including woodland, meadow, heathland, and coastal habitats.[3] The Trust also runs four education centres at its Blashford Lakes, Testwood Lakes, Swanwick Lakes and Bouldnor Forest reserves, where education activities for young people and adults take place.
The trust's projects include: advice to landowners on how to manage their land with wildlife in mind, including commoners in the New Forest;[4] species reintroductions like working with the South Downs National Park Authority to reintroduce water voles to the River Meon;[5] and working with local authorities to make public spaces more wildlife-friendly.[6]
| Site | Photograph | Area | Location | Public access | Other Classifications | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancells Farm[7] | 12sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Fleet 51.294°N -0.82°W | YES | SSSI | This site has heathland and ponds with diverse fauna and flora. It has many flying insects, which provide food for bats. Flora include bog myrtle, Bog asphodel and several species of orchid. | |
| Arreton Down[8] | 19sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Newport 50.685°N -1.247°W | YES | SSSI[9] | ||
| Barton Meadows[10] | 32sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Winchester 51.079°N -1.313°W | FP | |||
| Blashford Lakes[11] | 159sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Ringwood 50.874°N -1.787°W | YES | NCR,[12] Ramsar,[13] SAC,[14] SPA,[15] SSSI[16] | These former gravel pits have lakes, woods and grassland. There are six bird hides and 8km (05miles) of gravel paths. Birds include lesser redpolls, sand martins, goosanders, siskins and great spotted woodpeckers. | |
| Bouldnor Forest[17] | 38sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Yarmouth 50.711°N -1.466°W | YES | |||
| Broughton Down[18] | 25sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Ringwood 51.095°N -1.584°W | YES | SSSI[19] | This sloping site on chalk has grassland which is grazed by rabbits and has many anthills. There are also areas of scrub and mature woodland. Insects include silver-spotted skipper, Duke of Burgundy fritillary and Essex skipper butterflies and chalk carpet moths.[20] | |
| Chappetts Copse[21] | 12sortable=onNaNsortable=on | West Meon 51.006°N -1.071°W | YES | This ancient ash and beech wood has many rare fungi and plants. Orchids include broad-leaved helleborine and bird's-nest, and there are butterflies such as the speckled wood and silver-washed fritillary. | ||
| Copythorne Common[22] | 17sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Copythorne 50.937°N -1.562°W | YES | SAC,[23] SSSI[24] | The common has grassland, woods and dry heath. Birds include long-tailed tits and woodlarks, while there are reptiles such as slow worms, adders and woodlarks. | |
| Coulters Dean[25] | 4sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Buriton 50.967°N -0.936°W | YES | SSSI[26] | This is chalk grassland on a west facing slope of the South Downs. It has a rich flora and invertebrate fauna, which has been recorded periodically since 1914. Flowering plants include horseshoe vetch, rampion, clustered bellflower and at least eleven species of orchid.[27] | |
| Eaglehead and Bloodstone Copses[28] | 9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Brading 50.686°N -1.178°W | YES | SSSI[29] | ||
| Emer Bog and Baddesley Common[30] | 50sortable=onNaNsortable=on | North Baddesley 50.995°N -1.448°W | YES | SAC,[31] SSSI[32] | Most of this site is valley bog, together with damp grassland, heath and woods. The bog is not grazed and it has a rich flora and fauna, including many moths. Plants include reed, marsh cinquefoil and bog bean. There is also an area of acidic grassland with a rich flora.[33] | |
| Farlington Marshes[34] | 123sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Portsmouth 50.836°N -1.029°W | YES | LNR,[35] NCR,[36] Ramsar,[37] SAC[38] SPA[39] SSSI[40] | This area of flower-rich grazing marsh is internationally important for its bird population. Wintering wildfowl include dark bellied brent geese, wigeons, avocets, redshanks and dunlins. There are also spring and summer visitors such as Cetti's, reed and sedge warblers, skylarks and lapwings. | |
| Flexford[41] | 18sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Chandler's Ford 50.991°N -1.397°W | YES | This reserve is in two areas separated by the Eastleigh–Romsey railway line. It has wet meadows and ancient woodland trees such as alder and ground flora such as ramsons. Birds include siskins and lesser redpolls. | ||
| Greywell Moors[42] | 13sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Greywell 51.254°N -0.97°W | PP | SSSI[43] | This site is calcareous fen. There is a large area of wet grassland, which is grazed by cattle, and a small area of carr woodland. Meadow flora include cowslip, dyer's greenweed and pepper-saxifrage.[44] | |
| Hockley Meadows[45] | 9sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Winchester 51.026°N -1.323°W | FP | SAC,[46] SSSI[47] | This site has water meadows, a stream, willow carr, reedbeds and grassland, which is maintained by cattle grazing. There are brown trout in the stream and flowering plants include southern marsh orchids, water avens and cuckoo flowers. | |
| Hoe Road Meadow[48] | 3sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Bishop's Waltham 50.952°N -1.2°W | YES | |||
| Hook Common and Bartley Heath[49] | 123sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Hook 51.274°N -0.955°W | YES | SSSI[50] | This site is of particular interest because of its extensive areas of wet heath, which rarely survives in the Thames Basin. There are also areas of dry heath and oak and birch woodland. There is a rich invertebrate assemblage, including the Red Data Book moths Stenoptila graphodactyla and Idaea dilutaria, and the hoverfly Microdon mutabilis.[51] | |
| Hythe Spartina Marsh[52] | 10sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Hythe 50.863°N -1.386°W | YES | Ramsar,[53] SAC, SPA,[54] SSSI[55] | ||
| Knighton Down[56] | 15sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Knighton 50.683°N -1.19°W | YES | |||
| Lower Test[57] | 160sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Totton 50.929°N -1.482°W | PL | Ramsar, SAC, SPA, SSSI[58] | The valley has extensive reed beds, tidally flooded creeks, unimproved grassland and scattered willow trees. More than 450 flowering plants have been recorded, including the nationally rare green-flowered helleborine. The reed beds have large populations of wetland breed birds.[59] | |
| Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes[60] | 738sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Lymington 50.733°N -1.551°W | NO | GCR,[61] [62] LNR,[63] [64] NCR,[65] Ramsar, SAC,[66] SPA, SSSI[67] | This coastal site has saltmarshes and intertidal muds. Birds of prey include peregrine falcons, marsh harriers and merlins, while black-headed gulls and sandwich terns feed on fish in the marshes. Yellow-horned poppies, sea campions and sea aster grow in the salty mud. | |
| Lymington Reedbeds[68] | 31sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Lymington 50.767°N -1.542°W | YES | Ramsar, SPA, SSSI[69] | This site in the Lymington River estuary was formerly tidal, but salt water has been excluded since the nineteenth century by a one way tide flap. It has reedbeds and unimproved grassland which provide an important habitat for breeding and migrating birds. The reedbeds have large populations of aphids, which provide food for the birds.[70] | |
| Mapledurwell Fen and the Hatch[71] | 3sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Old Basing 51.266°N -1.03°W | YES | SSSI[72] | ||
| Milton Locks[73] | 1sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Milton 50.793°N -1.042°W | YES | This site on Portsea Island has grassland, a wood and a beach. There are saltmarsh plants such as sea purslane, sea aster and common saltmarsh-grass. The wood provides shelter for starlings and house sparrows. | ||
| Newchurch Moors[74] | 50sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Newchurch 50.667°N -1.202°W | YES | |||
| Ningwood Common[75] | 11sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Yarmouth 50.707°N -1.442°W | YES | SSSI[76] | ||
| Noar Hill[77] | 20sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Alton 51.082°N -0.942°W | YES | NCR, SAC,[78] SSSI[79] | These former chalk quarries are now an area of grassland and woodland in an undulating landscape. Butterflies include brown hairstreaks, grizzled skippers, chalkhill blues, dingy skippers and small blues. | |
| Pamber Forest and Upper Inhams[80] | 214sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Tadley 51.355°N -1.115°W | YES | LNR,[81] SSSI[82] | Pamber Forest has hazel coppice dominated by oak standards. At the southern end are plants associated with ancient woodland, such as orpine, wood horsetail, lily of the valley, wild daffodil and the rare mountain fern. The woodland has over forty nationally rare or uncommon species.[83] | |
| Roydon Woods[84] | 386sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Brockenhurst 50.807°N -1.554°W | FP | SAC, SSSI[85] | A large part of these woods are ancient, but other areas are former oak and hazel coppice planted in the nineteenth century. There are also areas of hornbeam and species-rich aldercarr. The SSSI also includes a stretch of the Lymington River and many open glades.[86] | |
| Sandown Meadows[87] | 17sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Sandown 50.663°N -1.167°W | YES | |||
| Shutts Copse[88] | 5sortable=onNaNsortable=on | West Meon 51.031°N -1.093°W | YES | This small wood has a ground layer of wild flowers, such as primroses and bluebells. There is a healthy population of dormice and birds include coal tits, tawny owls and great spotted woodpeckers. | ||
| Southmoor[89] | 11sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Havant 50.841°N -0.994°W | YES | NCR, Ramsar, SAC SPA SSSI | This reserve on the north coast of Langstone Harbour has grazing marshes and scrub. It is an important habitat for birds and skylarks breed here. Other birds include brent geese, greenfinches and goldfinches. | |
| St Catherine's Hill[90] | 47sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Winchester 51.046°N -1.311°W | YES | SM,[91] SSSI[92] | This hill is covered by chalk grassland scrub and surrounded by the ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort. It has a rich herb flora, including thyme, common rock-rose, carline thistle, felwort, fairy flax and frog orchid. Sheltered areas are rich in invertebrates.[93] | |
| St Clair's Meadow[94] | 16sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Soberton 50.937°N -1.133°W | PP | The River Meon flows through this grassland site, and it has diverse wildlife. There are water voles and kingfishers along the river, and insects include beautiful demoiselle damselflies, golden-ringed dragonflies and many species of butterfly. | ||
| St Lawrence Field[95] | 5sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Ventnor 50.588°N -1.244°W | YES | SSSI[96] | ||
| Swanwick Lakes[97] | 35sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Swanwick 50.886°N -1.281°W | YES | Most of this site is woodland, and there are also meadows and lakes in former clay pits. The north-east meadow has many orchids and butterflies. There is also an educational facility for children to learn about the environment. | ||
| Testwood Lakes[98] | 55sortable=onNaNsortable=on | Totton 50.938°N -1.508°W | YES | The site has three lakes, wetlands, grassland and woods. Birds such as lapwings, oystercatchers, great crested grebe, great white egrets, wigeons, shovelers and sand martins can be observed from the two bird hides. | ||
| Warnborough Greens[99] | | 11sortable=onNaNsortable=on|Hook 51.263°N -0.955°W |align="center"|YRS|SSSI[100] |This site consists of two species-rich wet meadows on either side of the River Whitewater. There are thirteen species of sedge, such as distant, flea and brown sedge. Invertebrates include two nationally rare flies, the soldier fly Stratiomys potamida and the hoverfly Xylota abiens.[101] |-! scope="row"| Whitehouse Meadow[102] || 1sortable=onNaNsortable=on|Farnborough 51.301°N -0.798°W |align="center"|YES|SSSI[103] ||-! scope="row"| Winnall Moors[104] || 64sortable=onNaNsortable=on|Winchester 51.073°N -1.302°W |align="center"|YES||A chalk stream runs through this nature reserve, which also has woodland and a flower-rich meadow. There are mammals such as Daubenton's bats, water voles and roe deer, and brown trout in the stream.|} See also
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