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Other Wildlife

Flora

Dinton Pastures and Lea Farm between them include a wide range of habitats and commensurately diverse flora.  The habitats range from sparsely vegetated gravel beaches and muddy scrapes to flower meadows, scrub and mature deciduous woodland.  We do not have a detailed picture of the plants of the area and would welcome botanical surveys or casual observations of our plant life.

The gallery below gives a flavour of what may be seen.  Although less abundant than they used to be, Loddon Lilies can still be found along the River Loddon, mainly in the vicinity of Sandford Mill. For a short period in summer Mortimer’s Meadow is covered with a carpet of Buttercups, a wonderful sight to see. Several areas of reedbed have been created around the park, utilising Phragmites and Sedge, to provide the perfect habitat for several species of birds. The biennial plant Teasel is very useful to wildlife, attracting insects for pollen through the summer, then providing seed for birds in autumn.

Natural succession would, as in most of the UK, lead to the whole area becoming deciduous woodland and plant diversity is only maintained by habitat management: cutting and grazing of the meadows, removal of Willow from banks and reedbeds and control of invasive alien species, notably Himalayan Balsam from river banks and Crassula from the scrapes.