Wandle Meadow Nature Park

Wandle Meadow Nature Park is a 4.15 hectare local nature reserve and Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1, in Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton.^[1]^[2] It is owned and managed by Merton Council.^[3]

A map of 1847 shows the site as Byegrove Mead, which may have been managed as water meadows. In 1877 it was acquired by a sewage company, and it formed part of a sewage works until this closed in 1970. A plan to build a stadium for Wimbledon Football Club on the site was strongly opposed by local residents, and in 1989 it was designated as a nature reserve by Merton Council.^[1]

The Meadow lies between the River Wandle and Mead Path, part of the Wandle Trail. Wetland plants and animals include small sweet-grass, eared willow and broad-bodied chaser dragonflies. Bullfinches, whitethroats and reed buntings breed in woodland areas.^[4] There are also bodies of water which have a variety of frogs, toads and newts.^[5]

The Nature Reserve is accessible via Chaucer Way, Boundary Road & North Road in Colliers Wood, a footbridge across the River Wandle from Garfield Road Recreation Ground in South Wimbledon and from a footpath at Plough Lane, Wimbledon.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Wandle Meadow Nature Park". London Parks and Gardens Trust. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
^ "Map of Wandle Meadow Nature Park". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
^ "Wandle Meadow Nature Park". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
^ "Wandle Trail Nature Park and Lower River Wandle". Greenspace Information for Greater London. 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
^ "Nature reserves". Merton Council. Retrieved 20 December 2013.