Winnall Moors is a nature reserve in
Winchester
Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
. It is managed by the
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is a The Wildlife Trusts partnership, Wildlife Trust with 27,000 members across the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, England.
The trust describes itself as the leading local wildlife conserv ...
.
The southern section is owned by
Winchester City Council
Winchester (), or the City of Winchester, is a local government district with city status in Hampshire, England.
The district is named after its main settlement of Winchester, which is where the council is based and is also the county town of ...
and has been managed by HIWWT since the 1980s. The northern part was formerly farmed as low-intensity grazing, but was purchased by HIWWT following a public appeal, with assistance from the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
.
The site lies within the western end of the
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...
.
Flora and fauna
Habitats on the site include
chalk stream
Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water easily percolates through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...
,
tall fen,
hay meadow
Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...
and
wet pasture. Plant life includes
green-flowered helleborine
''Epipactis phyllanthes'', the green-flowered helleborine, is an orchid found in the western Palearctic realm.
Distribution
It is native to Andorra, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, Ireland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark.
Habitat
It ...
,
water crowfoot
''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots.
The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...
,
lesser water-parsnip,
purple loosestrife
''Lythrum salicaria'' or purple loosestrifeFlora of NW Europe''Lythrum salicaria'' is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family Pr ...
(''Lythrum salicaria''),
yellow flag (''Iris pseudacorus''), various
sedges
The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...
,
common reed
''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. It is a wetland grass that can grow up to tall and has a cosmopolitan distribution worldwide.
Description
''Phragmites australis' ...
,
reed canary grass
''Phalaris arundinacea'', or reed canary grass, is a tall, perennial bunchgrass that commonly forms extensive single-species stands along the margins of lakes and streams and in wet open areas, with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia, northern ...
,
fleabane Fleabane is a common name for some flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
Most are in the subfamily Asteroideae:
* '' Conyza'' (butterweeds or horseweeds: Astereae)
* '' Erigeron'' (Astereae)
* '' Inula'' ("yellowheads": Inuleae)
* '' Pluche ...
,
meadowsweet (''Filipendula ulmaria''),
fen bedstraw,
southern marsh-orchid,
yellow rattle
''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus ''Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An an ...
and
eyebright
''Euphrasia'', or eyebright, is a genus of about 215 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae (formerly included in the Scrophulariaceae), with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are hemiparasitic on grasses and other pl ...
.
Birds include
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 ...
,
mute swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to ...
and
mallard
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...
,
reed
Reed or Reeds may refer to:
Science, technology, biology, and medicine
* Reed bird (disambiguation)
* Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times
* Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales
* Re ...
and
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 ...
s,
gadwall
The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae.
Taxonomy
The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown th ...
,
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 ...
and
snipe
A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. ''Gallinago'' snipe have a nearly ...
.
There are many different species of breeding
dragonfly
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...
and
damselfly
Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...
including the
broad-bodied chaser
''Libellula depressa'', the broad-bodied chaser or broad-bodied darter, is one of the most common Dragonfly, dragonflies in Europe and central Asia. It is very distinctive with a very broad flattened abdomen, four wing patches and, in the male, ...
,
common darter
The common darter (''Sympetrum striolatum'') is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae native to Eurasia. It is one of the most common dragonflies in Europe, occurring in a wide variety of water bodies, though with a preference for breeding in ...
and
banded demoiselle.
References
{{Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
Winchester
Geography of Hampshire