ALDERMASTON GRAVEL PITS

'Aldermaston Gravel Pits' is a 23.41 hectare (57.75 acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest in the civil parish of Aldermaston in the English county of Berkshire, notified in 1955.
Located at , this site consists of mature flooded gravel workings surrounded by dense fringing vegetation, trees and scrub, affording a variety of habitats for breeding birds and a refuge for wildfowl. The irregular shoreline, with islands, promontories, sheltered
eutrophic pools and narrow lagoons provides undisturbed habitat for many water birds including surface feeding ducks such as Teal (''Anas crecca'') and Shoveler (''Anas clypeata''). The surrounding marsh and scrub are important for numerous birds including nine breeding species of Warblers, Water Rails (''Rallus aquaticus''), Kingfishers (''Alcedoa atthis'') and an important breeding colony of Nightingales (''Luscinia megarhynchos'').^[1]
In 2002 English Nature bought Aldermaston Gravel Pits from the mineral extraction company Grundon for £925,000.^[2] and it is managed as a nature reserve by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.^[3]

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External links

References

1. Aldermaston Gravel Pits
2. Million pound boost for birds and people
3. Aldermaston Gravel Pits nature reserve

External links

★ Video of Aldermaston Gravel Pits from BBC Berks