Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows () is a nature reserve in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, owned and managed by the

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering . It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshi ...

. The character of the reserve is defined by flooded

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either ...

s and wet grassland, providing an excellent habitat for large variety of wetland flora and fauna. The site forms part of the larger Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

. It is situated in close proximity to several other Wildlife Trust nature reserves, such as Higham Ferrers Pits, Wilson's Pits and Ditchford Lakes and Meadows, significantly improving the benefit for wildlife by creating joined-up protected landscapes. It is adjacent to Stanwick Lakes, a reserve managed by the Rockingham Forest Trust.

History

Originally

water meadows A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

and agricultural fields straddling both sides of the

River Nene The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...

, the site has been transformed significantly in recent history. The first such intervention was the construction of the Northampton to Peterborough Railway, which opened in 1845. During its construction,

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

was discovered in the Nene Valley. Following the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in 1916, the Ebbw Vale Mining Company commenced operations, producing around 6000 tons of ore per week. The most recent and most impactful intervention on the landscape began in the 1970s, with the large scale extraction of sand and gravel along the Nene Valley. An electric conveyor belt was constructed following the now disused railway line to transport the material to a processing plant at nearby Stanwick Lakes. By the time operations ceased in 2002, more than 1.5 million tons of aggregate had been extracted from the area. The pits were then allowed to flood, creating the present day series of lakes and channels. In 2012, with help from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and public donations, the

purchased the neglected site. It is now the focus of some of the trust's most important work as part of the Nene Valley Living Landscapes conservation scheme. To maximize the reserve's benefit for wildlife and biodiversity, numerous improvement works have been undertaken. These include the creation of new islands and removal of willow and electricity pylons.Northamptonshire Telegraph: Living Nene Project sees Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows transformed
Retrieved 30 December 2015.

Wildlife

The Nene Valley is one of the most important wetlands in England and has gained international recognition for its significance as a stop-over for thousands of wildfowl and waders that visit during the winter. The quantity and variety of birdlife varies greatly with the seasons, with the following overwintering at the site:Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire: Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows.
Retrieved 31 December 2015. *

Golden Plover '' Pluvialis '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere. In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. The ...

''(Pluvialis apricaria)'' *

Wigeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are ...

''(Anas penelope)'' * Gadwall ''(Anas strepera)'' *

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 ...

''(Aythya fuligula)'' Surrounding the river and lakes, fragments of now rare meadow survive. These provide ideal conditions for meadowsweet,

great burnet ''Sanguisorba officinalis'', commonly known as great burnet, is a plant in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. It is native throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America. It ...

and

common spotted orchid ''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'', the common spotted orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. ''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'' is one of Europe's commonest wild orchids. It is widespread across much of Europe, with the range ...

Management

A variety of different management techniques are being used to maintain and bolster the reserve's benefit for wildlife. Within the wetland areas, ditches are periodically cleared, scrub is removed and trees copsed to maintain the open nature of the gravel pits. The grassland is grazed and cut on rotation to maintain a mosaic of grassland scrub habitats.

References

{{Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves Meadows in Northamptonshire