Dinton’s Biodiversity
Whilst birds are the most studied wildlife group at Dinton Pastures, the other fauna and the flora of the Country Park are equally interesting. The mixture of habitats provides a wide variety of plants and the insects and other animals that depend on them.
In addition to the river and lakes, habitats include wet flower meadows, reed-beds, scrub, wet woodland and mature Oak woods, each with its distinctive flora and hence a diverse fauna is found. A typical walk around the park on a summer’s day could yield Rabbit, Wood Mouse, Grey Squirrel, Fox, Roe Deer, Common Frog, Common Toad, Smooth and Great Crested Newt. Also present but less easily seen are Mole, Weasel, Stoat, Field Vole, Grass Snake, Muntjac Deer, Badger, Common Shrew and even occasional Otter sightings have been reported by fishermen on the River Loddon. Cattle graze on some of the meadows and help to maintain floral diversity. At least three species of Bat can be seen around the park at night and boxes have been installed to assist them in breeding locally.
Less welcome around the park are Mink, a non-native species which is a voracious predator of fish, birds etc. and Red-eared Terrapin, another alien species, probably former household pets released after the “mutant ninja turtle” era. In 2015 Twyford & District Angling Club were granted access to the stretch of the River Loddon adjacent to Lea Farm GP and on the first weekend of fishing one of their members caught a large Wells Catfish, another predatory non-native species.
We would welcome survey data on all of our flora and fauna and also photographs that we could display in the wildlife galleries here: