Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

This 650 metre section of the Duke of Northumberland's River which runs alongside Twickenham Rugby Stadium is very attractive, with excellent aquatic and marginal vegetation. The river was created in the 15th or 16th centuries to provide power to the manorial water mill at Isleworth on the Thames. Both branched and unbranched bur-reeds (Sparganium erectum and S. emersum) are present in the channel along with water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica), whose flowering spikes poke above the water's surface here and there. On the margins a diverse assemblage of wetland plants occurs, including: marsh horsetail (Equisetum palustre), great yellow-cress (Rorippa amphibia), greater pond-sedge (Carex riparia), reed sweet-grass (Glyceria maxima), water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides), water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata) and skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata). The river here has greatly improved for wildlife in recent years and the increase in vegetation provides more habitat for birds, fish and invertebrates including the spectacular banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens).