Frampton Pools () is a

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, notified in 1974. The pools are on the edge of the village of

Frampton on Severn Frampton on Severn is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. The population is 1,432. Geography The village is approximately south of Gloucester, at . It lies on the east bank of the River Severn, and on the west bank of the ...

. The site is in the

Severn Vale , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

and consists of a number of lakes created as a result of gravel extraction. These provide a good open water

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

which is important for wintering wildfowl. The site is mostly standing water which is surrounded by broadleaved woodland, scrub and the margins support marginal vegetation. The larger, deeper northern pit has steep banks and is often subjected to disturbance by sailing, the southern pit is smaller and shallower with well-vegetated banks and is less disturbed. The northern pool is known as Court Lake and has an area of and the southern pool is called Townsfield Lake and has an area of . In 2009 funding was secured to improve the conservation condition of the site through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.

Species

The over-wintering birds include large numbers of

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is ofte ...

shoveler The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas cl ...

pochard Pochard is a common name used for several species of diving ducks: *Four species in the genus ''Aythya'': ** Common pochard, ''Aythya ferina'' ** Baer's pochard, ''Aythya baeri'' ** Ferruginous pochard, ''Aythya nyroca'' ** Madagascar pochard, '' ...

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

and pintail. Rarer species also visit such as

smew The smew (''Mergellus albellus'') is a species of duck, and is the only living member of the genus ''Mergellus''. ''Mergellus'' is a diminutive of '' Mergus'' and ''albellus'' is from Latin ''albus'' "white". This genus is closely related to ' ...

and

scaup Scaup is the common name for three species of diving duck: * Greater scaup, or just "scaup", ''Aythya marila'' * Lesser scaup, ''Aythya affinis'' * New Zealand scaup, ''Aythya novaeseelandiae'' External links

{{Animal common name Birds by co ...

. The lakes are used as a breeding area for

and

great crested grebe The great crested grebe (''Podiceps cristatus'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds noted for its elaborate mating display. Taxonomy The great crested grebe was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in t ...

. The vegetation around the pools can hold wintering

Eurasian siskin The Eurasian siskin (''Spinus spinus'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include ''black-headed goldfinch'', ''barley bird'' an ...

lesser redpoll The lesser redpoll (''Acanthis cabaret'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. It is the smallest, brownest, and most streaked of the redpolls. It is sometimes classified as a subspecies of the common redpoll (''Acanthis ...

and

common chiffchaff The common chiffchaff (''Phylloscopus collybita''), or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic. It is a migratory passerine which ...

, while in the breeding season the site has held

European turtle dove The European turtle dove (''Streptopelia turtur'') is a member of the bird family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It breeds over a wide area of the south western Palearctic including north Africa but migrates to northern sub-Saharan Africa t ...

common nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

Eurasian reed warbler The common reed warbler (''Acrocephalus scirpaceus'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It breeds across Europe into the temperate western Palaearctic where it is migratory, wintering in sub- Saharan Africa. It is also a re ...

, little egret and

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

. It is a good area for invertebrates, notably dragonflies.

Fishing

Coarse fishing In Britain and Ireland, coarse fishing (, ) refers to angling for rough fish, which are fish species traditionally considered undesirable as a food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids — most particularly salmon, trout and cha ...

is permitted at Frampton Pools.

References

SSSI sources

Natural England SSSI information on the citation

Natural England SSSI information on the Frampton Pools units

External links

Natural England
(SSSI information) {{SSSIs Gloucs biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1974