Lakeside Nature Reserve is a small

Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...

in Church End,

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

in the London Borough of Barnet. Its main feature is a pond which was constructed in the late 1890s by

Peter Edmund Kay Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

as a reservoir to store rainwater for commercial greenhouses in the Claigmar Vineyard, a large market garden in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.''Financial Times'', 29 January 1904, p. 8; Ordnance Survey 26 inches to a mile ''Mid-Finchley Map, 1911'' The pond has a fountain and plants fringing the shore include

water mint ''Mentha aquatica'' (water mint; syn. ''Mentha hirsuta'' Huds.Euro+Med Plantbase Project''Mentha aquatica'') is a perennial flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It grows in moist places and is native to much of Europe, northwest Africa ...

gypsywort ''Lycopus europaeus'', common names gypsywort, gipsywort, bugleweed, European bugleweed and water horehound, is a perennial plant in the genus '' Lycopus'', native to Europe and Asia, and naturalized elsewhere. Another species, ''Lycopus america ...

and

purple-loosestrife ''Lythrum salicaria'' or purple loosestrifeFlora of NW Europe''Lythrum salicaria'' is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family P ...

. Waterfowl nest on a small island and there are dragonflies in summer. There is no public access but it can be viewed from a footpath off Strathmore Gardens.

References

{{Nature reserves in Barnet Nature reserves in the London Borough of Barnet