Walkers & Nature lovers
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has over 50 years experience of reserve management.
A goal of current reserve management policy is the building up of 'biodiversity', firstly by the maintenance of a wide variety of habitats and secondly by the encouragement of the richness and diversity of species within the reserves.
Indeed, so important is the goal of biodiversity, that it is very much regarded as an indicator of successful management reserve policy.
The principal reserves
Example Water Holt Trail - Snipe Dales
The Nature Reserve route - Short Drive (10 miles from site)
Water Holt Trail and Snipe Dales Round
There are two waymarked routes starting from the Nature Reserve car park. A short walk of about 3.2 km (2 miles), known as the 'Water Holt Trail', has orange markers. There is also the 'Snipe Dales Round' of about 6.4 km (4 miles), marked in red, which takes in the whole of the Nature Reserve and the Country Park. Along the route there are information boards that explain in greater detail some of the features to be seen.
The reserve consists of two main valleys fretted by streams. The higher slopes are covered by rough grassland, while lower down, at the junction of the sandstone and clay, the springline is indicated by tufted hair-grass, rushes and ferns. The valley bottoms and other wet areas have a dense, tall, herb flora in summer, comprising meadowsweet, great willowherb and great horsetail.
Drier slopes are clothed by extensive stands of bracken and rosebay willowherb. There is evidence of much more woodland in the past: oak and ash on the higher slopes where a woodland flora with bluebells and primroses survives, and alder and willow chiefly in the lateral valleys. Oak and ash have been planted to restore woodland cover, while alder and willow have been planted in some of the wetter holts.
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust www.lincstrust.org.uk
For more detailed information see the VisitLincolnshire.com web site
