Created 2010 Area 4 ha | Status Open all year | |
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Type Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve Location Nind, near Kingswood, alongside the Ozleworth Brook Operated by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and landowners | ||
Nind Nature Reserve (grid reference ST755915) is a 3.75-hectare (9.3-acre) nature reserve in Gloucestershire.
Contents
The site is managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and is leased from the landowners. It is a former trout farm.
The site and adjacent areas are designated as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS). These are the Nind Trout farm (2.7-hectare (6.7-acre)), an area of adjacent wet woodland (1.2-hectare (3.0-acre)) and a stretch of Ozleworth Brook (grid reference ST749919 to grid reference ST754916). The reserve forms part of the Berkeley Vale Water Vole Recovery Project’s habitat enhancement scheme.
Location and habitatEdit
The nature reserve is at Nind, near Kingswood, Wotton-under-Edge. None of the trout ponds remained; only the back channels were in existence. The site is now managed as a water vole reserve. These creatures are seen and heard in the water channels. It was formally opened in July 2010.
Legal protection and threatsEdit
Water voles are fully protected under Section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). This legal protection means that due care must be paid to the presence of water voles.
The Berkeley Vale Project report indicates the main reasons for the decline in water vole populations. These are given as loss of habitat, isolation of populations, predation by an introduced species (American mink), inappropriate river management, draining of wetlands, building development and intensitication in agriculatural practices. Appendix E of the report summarises the work done on surveying, mink control and habitat restoration and creation schemes.
RestorationEdit
The site was assessed as having unstable water levels. The remaining channels of the old farm were 'leaky'. This resulted in water levels dropping significantly in dry periods. The site was overgrown with alder and there was encroaching scrub. A healthy population of water voles had been identified downstream in the Ozleworth Brook, but the farm area did not provide connectivity. Risks were also identified in respect of predation by mink and colonisation by rats.
Restoration work has included stabilising the water levels by replacing the degraded impoundment structures. Some 80-90% of the alder growth has been cutback. Fencing for livestock has been installed downstream to help to provide connectivity with the nearest water vole population.
Volunteers have assisted in the work to restore this site and there is an on-going monitoring programme for the full catchment area.
Other speciesEdit
Bird life recorded for the site include dippers, kingfishers and herons.