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.