Darland's Lake Nature Reserve is a nature reserve south of

Totteridge Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...

Village in Barnet,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is owned by the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in north London, England. Forming part of Outer London, the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the ...

and was managed from 1971 by the

Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust manages over 40 nature reserves covering nearly north of London, in Hertfordshire and the historic county of Middlesex, part of which is divided between the London boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet, ...

, and more recently by the borough council. In 2007 the council spent £215,000 on repairing the dam and other works, and then proposed leasing the reserve to the Wildlife Trust. The transfer did not take place and in September 2017 a trust was set up by the

London Wildlife Trust London Wildlife Trust is an English wildlife charity based in London. Founded in 1981, London Wildlife Trust is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (known as The Wildlife Trusts), each of which is a local nature charity ...

and local residents associations which took over the management of Darland's Lake. In 2020, the Darlands Conservation Trust launched an appeal to raise £450,000 for excavation to prevent the lake drying up. The site was once part of

Copped Hall Copped Hall, also known as Copt Hall or Copthall, is a mid-18th-century English country house close to Waltham Abbey, Essex, which has been undergoing restoration since 1999. Today, Copped Hall refers to the upstanding house, while Copt Hal ...

, an estate dating from the sixteenth century. From 1780 it was occupied by William Manning MP, and his son Cardinal Manning was born there. Darland's Lake was created as an ornamental lake by damming

Folly Brook Folly Brook is a long Stream, brook in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of Dollis Brook, which is a tributary of the River Brent, which is a tributary of the River Thames. Folly Brook is lined for most of its length by narrow str ...

, probably planned by William Manning's wife, Mary, with advice from

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

. The lake is very shallow, with extensive reed beds, and the reserve also includes woodland. It has a diverse range of breeding birds and eighteen species of mammal have been recorded, including

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on th ...

and

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...

. It is also of value for grass snakes,

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

and

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

. Folly Brook and Darland's Lake Nature Reserve are together designated a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1. Darland's Lake was formerly a

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 ...

, but the designation was withdrawn when it was discovered that the rarest plants had been introduced. According to the London Ecology Unit's ''Nature Conservation in Barnet'', published in 1997, Darland's Lake was one of seven sites identified by Barnet Council as meeting the criteria for designation as a Local Nature Reserve, and it is the only one of the seven which the Council has not designated. There is access by a path from The Close, Totteridge Village, and by a footpath from Southover which follows Folly Brook to the lake, as well as by footpaths opposite St.Andrew’s church and from Mill Hill.

Footnotes

External links

Darlands Lake Nature Reserve, Parks & GardensDarlands Lake Nature Reserve, London Gardens OnlineDarlands Conservation Trust
{{Coord, 51.6254, -0.2047, type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Nature reserves in the London Borough of Barnet Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Barnet Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust reserves Totteridge

See also

Footnotes

External links