Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

The river is generally lined by trees and shrubs such as alder, crack willow, ash, hawthorn and blackthorn but open areas of the banks are smothered in bramble and nettle. Water and wetland plants struggle to grow because of the heavy shade. Exceptions to this are the introduced species Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and Indian balsam.Two of the fields to the west of the Pinn are grazed by horses and contain false oat-grass, bent and yarrow. The rest are either mown infrequently or left unmanaged for a year or so. These tend to be dominated by false oat-grass, creeping bent and red fescue, with a good range of wildflowers including teasel, tufted and common vetches, autumn hawkbit, meadow buttercup and horse-radish.To the north, the former Pield Heath Nursery between Church Road and Nursery Lane now has a number of horse-grazed paddocks on both sides of the river. There is scrub to the west and roughland to the east. This area also has a well-structured patchwork of grassland, wasteland-colonising plants and hedgerow remnants with trees. Pedunculate oak, hornbeam and ash are present along with bramble, false oat-grass, couch and yarrow.Along the northern edge is a broad track divided from the paddocks by a hedgerow. This is an outgrown hedge with hornbeam, elder and pedunculate oak. In this area winter flocks of chaffinch and greenfinch can be seen.

Facilities

Car parking.