Wetland

Where freshwater is the dominant influence on the ecology of an area the following habitats may be found:
– Lowland fen
– Running water & its margins
– Standing water & its margins including aquifer fed seasonal bodies

We have three sites of good quality in Basingstoke of this type:

The Popley Ponds complex –  which is still evolving, due to  considerable effort being  directed to protecting  and promoting  the  amphibian population in this area while  housing development also proceeds. These are seasonal  aquifer fed ponds.

Black Dam and Crabtree Nature Park  fish ponds.These are  chalk stream spring fed permanent ponds.

The Upper reaches of  the Loddon –  from the  source of the Town Brook near Saunders Field to the Basingstoke Fen where it joins the stream from Black Dam. The brook runs through a series of marsh and parkland sites to the fen on Basingstoke Common.

For an introduction to this  increasingly rare habitat see the JNCC note here.