Water Features

Standing Water

The only feature of standing open water of significant size is towards the north-west end of the White House side (near to Yorkgate car park). Here, a pond exists with a good range of submerged, emergent and floating vegetation.

Main species present:

Common Reedmace, Branched Bur-reed, Jointed Rush, Water Plantain, Common Spike-rush, Water Mint, Plicate Sweet Grass, Australian Swamp Stonecrop and Canadian Waterweed

Running Water

Being steeply sloping there are a considerable number of natural and artificial water features across the site. On the Danefield side some natural springs form fastflowing streams and create shaded, humid conditions supporting plants such as Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage and a range of liverworts and ferns.

Elsewhere, drainage ditches hold water at various times of the year and are likely to be valuable for a range of insects and some birds. These would have been created to move water away from the plantation areas as quickly as possible.