Spencer Road Wetlands is a one hectare Local Nature Reserve in

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

in the

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is a London borough in south-west London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croy ...

. It is owned by Sutton Council and managed by the

London Wildlife Trust London Wildlife Trust (LWT), founded in 1981, is a local nature conservation charity for Greater London. It is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (known as The Wildlife Trusts), each of which is a local nature conservatio ...

. From about 1895 to 1959 the site was subject to controlled flooding for watercress production. It was left then unmanaged, and colonised by willow woodland, until the late 1980s, and in 1991 the London Wildlife Trust took over the management. The site has reed swamps with wetland vegetation, woodland, a sedge-bed and a pond. Insects include the twin-spotted wainscot and crescent moths, and there are birds such as

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more north ...

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 res ...

and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

. The entrance at the corner of Spencer Road and Wood Street is kept locked and public access is limited to monthly open days, normally on the first Saturday of each month.

References

{{coord, 51.3847 , -0.1626, type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Local nature reserves in Greater London Nature reserves in the London Borough of Sutton London Wildlife Trust