Ingrebourne Marshes are a 74.8

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

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 ...

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a l ...

in the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. Th ...

. Ingrebourne Valley Local Nature Reserve includes a small part of the SSSI west of the

River Ingrebourne The River Ingrebourne is a tributary of the River Thames 27 miles (43.3 km) in length. It is considered a strategic waterway in London, forming part of the Blue Ribbon Network. It flows through the London Borough of Havering roughly from n ...

. The site is managed by the

Essex Wildlife Trust The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people ...

The Marshes run along both sides of the river, the northern portion next to Hornchurch Country Park and stretching south to Rainham. This is almost all closed to the public, but part of it can be viewed from the Park. A long narrow strip stretches east from the river to Berwick Pond Road, incorporating Berwick Pond, a reservoir which is used for fishing. This is open to the public. The site also includes an irrigation reservoir east of Berwick Pond Road. The site is the largest area of freshwater marsh in Greater London. It is very diverse, with large areas of

reed sweet-grass ''Glyceria maxima'' (syn. ''G. aquatica'' (L.) Wahlenb.; ''G. spectabilis'' Mert. & W.D.J. Koch; ''Molinia maxima'' Hartm.; ''Poa aquatica'' L.), commonly known as great manna grass, reed mannagrass, reed sweet-grass, and greater sweet-grass is a ...

common reed ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...

swamp, wet neutral grassland and tall fen. These habitats have a wide variety of invertebrates and breeding birds. Invertebrates include sixteen nationally scarce fly, beetle dragonfly and cricket species. There are two nationally rare

Red Data Book The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolog ...

species, the hoverfly '' Anasimyia interpuncta'' and the scarce emerald damselfly ''

Lestes dryas ''Lestes dryas'' is a species of damselfly in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings. Its common names include emerald spreadwing, scarce emerald damselfly and robust spreadwing.Boudot, J. 2014''Lestes dryas''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Specie ...

''. 61 species of bird regularly breed on the site, such as the

common redshank The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ...

and the northern lapwing.

Common cuckoo The common cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. I ...

s exploit the nests of

reed warblers The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler fami ...

and

sedge warbler The sedge warbler (''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge warblers are migratory, crossing ...

s. Havering Council has raised the water level and reintroduced grazing to protect the wetland.Wild Essex, Ingrebourne Marshes
/ref> Access to the site is from Hornchurch Country Park and Berwick Pond Road.

References

{{SSSIs Greater London Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Havering Marshland in London

See also

References