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.
Volunteers from a local company helped to create a new woodland walk in the tree line at Stourbridge Common. This area is a unique habitat as it contains an extensive ephemeral pond which attracts many associated species and makes this a very interesting site especially in the spring and early summer for investigation and observation.
To help support the steady growth in numbers of otters on our rivers, otter holts were installed on two of our riverside reserves with the help of our Saturday volunteer group. The holts were sited in secluded, quiet bankside locations and will hopefully provide daytime refuge for these amazing animals as they navigate our waterways.
A selection of logs from native trees were collected together to create a very impressive vertical log pile. With the help of volunteers from a local company the log pile took shape and even looked quite artistic and sculptural in it’s finished state. The log pile will rot down slowly,providing the perfect environment for ground beetles to lay their eggs in. The resulting larvae then develop and feed in the rotting deadwood this process can sometimes take up to four years for some species.