Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust


Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is a 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 conservation charity in Hampshire and the Island with the stated aim of improving conditions for wildlife on land and at sea. The organisation also runs community engagement events helping local people find out about their local wild places.

Nature reserves

The Trust currently manages 46 wildlife reserves, including woodland, meadow, heathland, and coastal habitats. The Trust also runs four education centres at its Blashford Lakes, Testwood Lakes, Swanwick Lakes and Bouldnor Forest reserves, where education activities for young people and adults take place.

Work with other organisations

The Trust's projects include: advice to landowners on how to manage their land with wildlife in mind, including commoners in the New Forest; species reintroductions like working with the South Downs National Park Authority to reintroduce water voles to the River Meon; and working with local authorities to make public spaces more wildlife-friendly.

Key

Public access

SitePhotographAreaLocationPublic
access		Other
Classifications		Description
Ancells Farm Fleet

YESSSSIThis site has heathland and ponds with diverse fauna and flora. It has many flying insects, which provide food for bats. Flora include bog myrtle, Bog asphodel and several species of orchid.
Arreton Down Newport

YESSSSI
Barton Meadows Winchester

FP
Blashford Lakes Ringwood

YESNCR, Ramsar, SAC, SPA, SSSIThese former gravel pits have lakes, woods and grassland. There are six bird hides and of gravel paths. Birds include lesser redpolls, sand martins, goosanders, siskins and great spotted woodpeckers.
Bouldnor Forest Yarmouth

YES
Broughton Down Ringwood

YESSSSIThis sloping site on chalk has grassland which is grazed by rabbits and has many anthills. There are also areas of scrub and mature woodland. Insects include silver-spotted skipper, Duke of Burgundy fritillary and Essex skipper butterflies and chalk carpet moths.
Chappetts Copse West Meon

YESThis ancient ash and beech wood has many rare fungi and plants. Orchids include broad-leaved helleborine and bird's-nest, and there are butterflies such as the speckled wood and silver-washed fritillary.
Copythorne Common Copythorne

YESSAC, SSSIThe common has grassland, woods and dry heath. Birds include long-tailed tits and woodlarks, while there are reptiles such as slow worms, adders and woodlarks.
Coulters Dean Buriton

YESSSSIThis is chalk grassland on a west facing slope of the South Downs. It has a rich flora and invertebrate fauna, which has been recorded periodically since 1914. Flowering plants include horseshoe vetch, rampion, clustered bellflower and at least eleven species of orchid.
Eaglehead and Bloodstone Copses Brading

YESSSSI
Emer Bog and Baddesley Common North Baddesley

YESSAC, SSSIMost of this site is valley bog, together with damp grassland, heath and woods. The bog is not grazed and it has a rich flora and fauna, including many moths. Plants include reed, marsh cinquefoil and bog bean. There is also an area of acidic grassland with a rich flora.
Farlington Marshes Portsmouth

YESLNR, NCR, Ramsar, SAC SPA SSSIThis area of flower-rich grazing marsh is internationally important for its bird population. Wintering wildfowl include dark bellied brent geese, wigeons, avocets, redshanks and dunlins. There are also spring and summer visitors such as Cetti’s, reed and sedge warblers, skylarks and lapwings.
Flexford Chandler's Ford

YESThis reserve is in two areas separated by the Eastleigh–Romsey railway line. It has wet meadows and ancient woodland trees such as alder and ground flora such as ramsons. Birds include siskins and lesser redpolls.
Greywell Moors Greywell

PPSSSIThis site is calcareous fen. There is a large area of wet grassland, which is grazed by cattle, and a small area of carr woodland. Meadow flora include cowslip, dyer's greenweed and pepper-saxifrage.
Hockley Meadows Winchester

FPSAC, SSSIThis site has water meadows, a stream, willow carr, reedbeds and grassland, which is maintained by cattle grazing. There are brown trout in the stream and flowering plants include southern marsh orchids, water avens and cuckoo flowers.
Hoe Road Meadow Bishop's Waltham

YES
Hook Common and Bartley Heath Hook

YESSSSIThis site is of particular interest because of its extensive areas of wet heath, which rarely survives in the Thames Basin. There are also areas of dry heath and oak and birch woodland. There is a rich invertebrate assemblage, including the Red Data Book moths Stenoptila graphodactyla and Idaea dilutaria, and the hoverfly Microdon mutabilis.
Hythe Spartina Marsh Hythe

YESRamsar, SAC, SPA, SSSI
Knighton Down Knighton

YES
Lower Test Totton

PLRamsar, SAC, SPA, SSSIThe valley has extensive reed beds, tidally flooded creeks, unimproved grassland and scattered willow trees. More than 450 flowering plants have been recorded, including the nationally rare green-flowered helleborine. The reed beds have large populations of wetland breed birds.
Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes Lymington

NOGCR, LNR, NCR, Ramsar, SAC, SPA, SSSIThis coastal site has saltmarshes and intertidal muds. Birds of prey include peregrine falcons, marsh harriers and merlins, while black-headed gulls and sandwich terns feed on fish in the marshes. Yellow-horned poppies, sea campions and sea aster grow in the salty mud.
Lymington Reedbeds Lymington

YESRamsar, SPA, SSSIThis site in the Lymington River estuary was formerly tidal, but salt water has been excluded since the nineteenth century by a one way tide flap. It has reedbeds and unimproved grassland which provide an important habitat for breeding and migrating birds. The reedbeds have large populations of aphids, which provide food for the birds.
Mapledurwell Fen and the Hatch Old Basing

YESSSSI
Milton Locks Milton

YESThis site on Portsea Island has grassland, a wood and a beach. There are saltmarsh plants such as sea purslane, sea aster and common saltmarsh-grass. The wood provides shelter for starlings and house sparrows.
Newchurch Moors Newchurch

YES
Ningwood Common Yarmouth

YESSSSI
Noar Hill Alton

YESNCR, SAC, SSSIThese former chalk quarries are now an area of grassland and woodland in an undulating landscape. Butteflies include brown hairstreaks, grizzled skippers, chalkhill blues, dingy skippers and small blues.
Pamber Forest and Upper Inhams Tadley

YESLNR, SSSIPamber Forest has hazel coppice dominated by oak standards. At the southern end are plants associated with ancient woodland, such as orpine, wood horsetail, lily of the valley, wild daffodil and the rare mountain fern. The woodland has over forty nationally rare or uncommon species.
Roydon Woods Brockenhurst

FPSAC, SSSIA large part of these woods are ancient, but other areas are former oak and hazel coppice planted in the nineteenth century. There are also areas of hornbeam and species-rich aldercarr. The SSSI also includes a stretch of the Lymington River and many open glades.
Sandown Meadows Sandown

YES
Shutts Copse West Meon

YESThis small wood has a ground layer of wild flowers, such as primroses and bluebells. There is a healthy population of dormice and birds include coal tits, tawny owls and great spotted woodpeckers.
Southmoor Havant

YESNCR, Ramsar, SAC SPA SSSIThis reserve on the north coast of Langstone Harbour has grazing marshes and scrub. It is an important habitat for birds and skylarks breed here. Other birds include brent geese, greenfinches and goldfinches.
St Catherine's Hill Winchester

YESSM, SSSIThis hill is covered by chalk grassland scrub and surrounded by the ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort. It has a rich herb flora, including thyme, common rock-rose, carline thistle, felwort, fairy flax and frog orchid. Sheltered areas are rich in invertebrates.
St Clair's Meadow Soberton

PPThe River Meon flows through this grassland site, and it has diverse wildlife. There are water voles and kingfishers along the river, and insects include beautiful demoiselle damselflies, golden-ringed dragonflies and many species of butterfly.
St Lawrence Field Ventnor

YESSSSI
Swanwick Lakes Swanwick

YESMost of this site is woodland, and there are also meadows and lakes in former clay pits. The north-east meadow has many orchids and butterflies. There is also an educational facility for children to learn about the environment.
Testwood Lakes Totton

YESThe site has three lakes, wetlands, grassland and woods. Birds such as lapwings, oystercatchers, great crested grebe, great white egrets, wigeons, shovelers and sand martins can be observed from the two bird hides.
Warnborough Greensalt=Warnborough Greens Hook

YRSSSSIThis site consists of two species-rich wet meadows on either side of the [River Whitewater. There are thirteen species of sedge, such as distant, flea and brown sedge. Invertebrates include two nationally rare flies, the soldier fly Stratiomys potamida and the hoverfly Xylota abiens.
Whitehouse Meadow Farnborough

YESSSSI
Winnall Moors Winchester

YESA chalk stream runs through this nature reserve, which also has woodland and a flower-rich meadow. There are mammals such as Daubenton's bats, water voles and roe deer, and brown trout in the stream.