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Watercress Wildlife Site is a Local Nature Reserve in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is owned by St Albans City Council and managed by the Watercress Wildlife Association, a registered charity. The boundaries of the site are the Alban Way, the
Watercress Wildlife Site is a Local Nature Reserve in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is owned by St Albans City Council and managed by the Watercress Wildlife Association, a registered charity. The boundaries of the site are the Alban Way, the River Ver
The Ver is a long chalk stream in Hertfordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Colne.
Course
The source is in the grounds of Lynch Lodge, Kensworth Lynch on the west side of the A5 trunk road and stays on the west side for som ...
and the houses of Riverside Road.
Until 1972 the site was one of the many commercial watercress
Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae.
Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...
beds in the area. It was then used partly as allotments, with fly tipping in some areas. In 1991 the council leased the site to the Watercress Wildlife Association, which cleared the site to become a nature reserve and gradually took over the allotments.
The site has a wide variety of wildlife, including water rail
The water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the Rallidae, rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are bird migration, migratory, but this species is a perma ...
s, kingfishers, little grebes and muntjac deer.
Facilities
There is access from the junction of Riverside Road and Cornwall Road. Facilities include a hide, seating area and information board.See also
TheHerts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust manages over 40 nature reserves covering nearly north of London, in Hertfordshire and the historic county of Middlesex, part of which is divided between the London boroughs of Barnet, Enfield, Harrow and Hill ...
has a reserve at Lemsford Springs, Lemsford
Lemsford is a village and parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is near Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield and is in the Hatfield Villages Ward of the Borough of Welwyn/Hatfield.
Lemsford Springs is a small nature reserve. Its lagoons are importan ...
, which is also a former watercress bed.
References
External links
{{Local Nature Reserves in Hertfordshire Local Nature Reserves in Hertfordshire St Albans Birdwatching sites in England Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in England