Ufton Fields 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 ...

and local nature reserve in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated on the A425 close to the village of

Ufton Ufton is a small village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. The population taken from the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 319. It is south east of Royal Leamington Spa and west of Southam ...

, between

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. Southam is situated on the River Stowe (called 'The Brook' by many locals), which flows from Napton-on-the-Hill and joins Warwickshire's R ...

and

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

. The reserve is owned by

Warwickshire County Council Warwickshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Warwickshire in England. Its headquarters are located at Shire Hall, Market Square, in centre of the county town of Warwick. Politically the county is ...

and is administered and run by the

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is a Wildlife Trust and Registered Charity covering the county of Warwickshire and Solihull and Coventry in the county of West Midlands, England. The Trust aims to protect and enhance wildlife, natural habitats and ge ...

. It covers an area of .

History

The site was originally agricultural, but in the 1950s had a change of use to

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

ing, when Portland Cement (later Blue Circle Cement) began extracting limestone for use in cement making. After quarrying ceased, the site was handed over to Warwickshire County Council in 1972. It became a local nature reserve before gaining SSSI status in 1981.

Habitats

The site has a wide variety of habitats, ranging from grassland and woodland to ponds and pools. The site originally gained its status due to its abundance of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s, especially butterflies. The site permits access for dogs. Ufton_Fields_1

References

External links

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust page for Ufton Fields

Geological Geoconservation at Ufton Fields (WGCG)
{{coord, 52.250, -1.445, type:landmark_region:GB-WAR, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Warwickshire Local nature reserves in Warwickshire Warwickshire Wildlife Trust