Cambridge City
Local Nature Reserves
Welcome
The Local Nature Reserves (LNR’s) in Cambridge are for both people and wildlife. The designation of these reserves helps to protect some of the best wildlife habitats and geographical features across the City, whilst making an important contribution to the UK’s biodiversity. The reserves provide an opportunity for people to study, learn about and enjoy nature on their doorstep.
Over the last 100 years, urban development, agricultural intensification and the abandonment of management operations have put many habitats and species under threat. Today, Cambridge City Council’s Local Nature Reserves make an important contribute to the protection and enhancement of the UK’s biodiversity.
The Saturday volunteer group worked very hard installing a ‘Brushwood mattress’ at The Rush stream on Sheep’s Green. The idea is that the brushwood collects passing silt and by doing so creates a narrowing of the channel. This narrowing increases the flow of water which in turn creates a faster more dynamic section of the stream, keeping the bottom gravel clear and oxygenating the water. Vegetation soon grows through the mattress helping to hold it all in place and offering an added habitat and shelter for fish and…
Take a walk to Sheep’s Green and listen out for the unfamiliar sound of rushing water. This is due to the completion of a very exciting new project which has transformed a heavily silted water course in to something very special. Previously the slow-moving watercourse met the river at a seized sluice gate which provided no upward access to the river for fish species. Barriers to fish within a stream or river have a very negative impact on that ecosystem. The Rush project will turn this a round….
As spring slowly brings our nature reserves to life you may spot these tiny mounds of earth in the grass or on patches of bare earth. They are the nests of the Tawny Mining bee which build their nests at this time of year. The nest consists of a vertical shaft 8-12 inches long with several brood cells branching off. The female fills each cell with a mixture of nectar and pollen on which she lays one egg. The larvae quickly develops and begins pupating, to emerge as an adult the…