Gosforth Nature Reserve is a wildlife haven in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It includes extensive woodland and

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

habitats and is managed by the

Natural History Society of Northumbria The Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) is a voluntary organization to promote the study of natural history and protect the wildlife of North East England. Its offices and library are in the Great North Museum: Hancock, whose buildin ...

. Access to the reserve is restricted to NHSN members and those in possession of a valid day pass. Dog walking and other recreational activities are not permitted on site. The reserve is part of

Gosforth Park Gosforth Park is a park north of Gosforth in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It houses Newcastle Racecourse, Virgin Money Unity Arena, a Britannia hotel, two golf courses, a garden centre and a football centre. It is also home to G ...

, the old estate of Gosforth House.

History

In medieval times, what is now Gosforth Nature Reserve would have been agricultural land, there is some remaining evidence of

ridge and furrow Ridge and furrow is an Archaeology, archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open field system, open-field system. It is a ...

. The general habitat in the area would have been

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

land, hence the name of the nearby village of

West Moor Forest Hall is a village in the borough of North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is 4 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. It borders Killingworth to the north, Holystone to the east and Benton to the south. The village was named after the Fore ...

and the nearby track called Heathery Lane. When the Brandling family took over the land and built their large estate house they had the surrounding area landscaped, as was the fashion of the day. This included planting new woodland and creating a new lake for boating and fishing. From historic maps it appears that the lake was created in the period 1810–1820 and that most of the woodland was planted around the mid-19th century. The Brandling family fell on hard times and sold off the estate towards the end of the 19th century and from that period onwards nature began to take over. In 1924 in order to prevent hunting and shooting of the wildlife Mr W. E. Beck leased the shooting rights for the lake and surrounding woodland. He was a member of the

and in 1929, in declining health, he passed his rights to the trustees of the Society. Since that time the Society has managed this area for the benefit of wildlife.

Habitats and wildlife

Gosforth Nature Reserve contains an important wetland, which is dominated by ''

Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial plant, perennial reed (plant), reed Poaceae, grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Famili ...

'' reeds and open water and surrounded by wet carr woodland. These wetland habitats support breeding bird species such as

reed warbler The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler famil ...

water rail The water rail, western water rail or European water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this ...

reed bunting The common reed bunting (''Emberiza schoeniclus'') is a passerine bird in the Emberiza, bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old High German, ...

sedge warbler The sedge warbler (''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus'') is an Old World warbler in the genus ''Acrocephalus (bird), Acrocephalus''. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge warblers are ...

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in Temperateness, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is stron ...

and

little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...

and in the winter birds such as

bittern Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' and various iterations of ''rared ...

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

wigeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are ...

teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue color. Its name comes from that of a bird—the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'')—which presents a similarly colored stripe on its head. The word is often used ...

and

shoveler The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Ana ...

. Aquatic mammals such as

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

. water vole and water shrew are also present. England's second largest colony of coralroot orchid is also found here. Gosforth Park Nature Reserve - geograph

The majority of the reserve is semi-natural woodland, dominated by

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

, however, there are also some plantations of

conifers Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

. Woodland mammals such as

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, roe deer and

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on th ...

can be found and

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia. Taxonomy There have been ...

are also still present. Most importantly the woodland supports a wide range of insects, including many uncommon species. There is also a small area of meadow, which contains plants such as heather and northern marsh orchid.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

Gosforth Park Nature Reserve was designated as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) in 1977. The citation includes:

The locality is regionally important for its aquatic, grassland and woodland invertebrate faunas which include two nationally rare species, a small beetle '' Triplax scutellaris'' and '' Adrena alfkenella'', a solitary bee.

Ownership and public access

The nature reserve is still part of

Newcastle Racecourse Newcastle Racecourse is a horse racing course located at Gosforth Park in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned by Arena Racing Company. It stages both Flat racing, flat and National Hunt racing, with its biggest meeting being the Northumberland ...

, which is owned by

Arena Racing Company Arena Racing Company, also called ARC Racing and Leisure Group is a UK private company, created in 2012 by the merger of Arena Leisure and Northern Racing. It owns and operates 16 racecourses in Great Britain, accounting for 39% of British rac ...

. It lies to the north-east of the Whitebridge Park housing estate. It is leased to the Natural History Society of Northumbria. In order to minimize disturbance to sensitive wildlife, there is no public access to the nature reserve, and there are no

public rights of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

. The reserve is open to members of the Natural History Society of Northumbria; non-members can buy a visitor pass upon arrival. NHSN holds regular public open days on-site and hosts a range of activities for school groups and local people.

References

External links

Natural England SSSI information for Gosforth Park

Natural History Society of Northumbria
{{SSSIs Tyne and Wear Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Tyne and Wear Geography of Newcastle upon Tyne Tourist attractions in Newcastle upon Tyne