Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Berkshire Wiltshire |
---|---|
Grid reference | SU 370 691 [1] |
Coordinates | 51°25′12″N1°28′08″W / 51.420°N 1.469°W |
Interest | Biological |
Area | 23.4 hectares (58 acres) [1] |
Notification | 1996 [1] |
Location map | Magic Map |
Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain is a 23.4-hectare (58-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in six widely separated areas in the floodplains of the River Lambourn in Berkshire and the River Kennet in Wiltshire, England. [1] [2] It is a Nature Conservation Review site [1] and part of the Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain Special Area of Conservation. [3] One of the areas, Rack Marsh, is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. [4]
These six areas all have fen or swamp with large numbers of Desmoulin's whorl snail, which is listed in the British Red Data Book as it is a nationally rare and declining species. One of the areas, Eddington Marsh, also has unimproved species-rich grassland with several nationally scarce invertebrates, such as the flies Pherbellia griseola , Psacadina verbekei , Platypalpus niger and Oxycera morrisi. [5]
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to the west. The city of Oxford is the largest settlement and county town.
The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB. The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which – together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames – links the cities of Bristol and London.
West Berkshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council.
The River Lambourn is a chalk stream in the English county of Berkshire. It rises in the Berkshire Downs near its namesake village of Lambourn and is a tributary of the River Kennet, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.
The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in southern England, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Berkshire Downs are wholly within the traditional county of Berkshire, although split between the current ceremonial counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. The western parts of the downs are also known as the Lambourn Downs.
The River Pang is a small chalk stream river in the west of the English county of Berkshire, and a tributary of the River Thames. It runs for approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) from its source near the village of Compton to its confluence with the Thames in the village of Pangbourne.
Bagnor is a village close to the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire and situated on the banks of the River Lambourn. At the 2011 census the population was included in the civil parish of Speen. It is best known as the home of the Watermill Theatre.
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name North Wessex Downs is not a traditional one, the area covered being better known by various overlapping local names, including the Berkshire Downs, the North Hampshire Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Lambourn Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Vale of Pewsey and Savernake Forest.
The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), is a Wildlife Trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England.
Seven Barrows is a Bronze Age bowl barrow cemetery, 4-hectare (9.9-acre) of which are designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, at Upper Lambourn in the civil parish of Lambourn in the English county of Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and it is a Scheduled Monument.
Thatcham Reed Beds is a 67.4-hectare (167-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Newbury in Berkshire. It is part of the Kennet & Lambourn Floodplain Special Area of Conservation and an area of 14 hectares is a Local Nature Reserve. An area of 35 hectares is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Kennet Valley Alderwoods is a 57.3-hectare (142-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Newbury in Berkshire. It is a Special Area of Conservation
Boxford Water Meadows is a 13.9-hectare (34-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Boxford in Berkshire. It is part of the Kennet & Lambourn Floodplain Special Area of Conservation.
Eastbury is a village in the valley of the River Lambourn in the English county of Berkshire. The village is situated on the old river level road from Newbury to Lambourn, and is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Lambourn and 1 mile (1.6 km) west of East Garston. The village is situated in the civil parish of Lambourn, which is within the unitary authority of West Berkshire.
Sheepdrove Organic Farm is a farm near Lambourn, West Berkshire, England. The farm gained a public profile when Juliet and Peter Kindersley took the UK government to court over its handling of the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. They also campaigned for a different approach to the 2007 FMD outbreak.
The Thames Basin Heaths are a natural region in southern England in Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey, a slightly mottled east-west belt of ecologically recognised and protected land.
Upper Ray Meadows is a 181-hectare nature reserve, managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, south of Marsh Gibbon in Buckinghamshire. It is composed of a number of areas, one of which, Long Herdon Meadow, is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Rack Marsh is a 4-hectare (9.9-acre) nature reserve in Bagnor, on the north-western outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. It is part of Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain, which is a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Nature Conservation Review site. It is also part of the Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain Special Area of Conservation.