The evolution of a nature reserve

 

The Stortons Pits nature reserve story.

Sometime in the eighties, Chris Payne took a picture of a redundant gravel pit from the top of the old Express lift tower. Decades later a second picture was taken from the exact same spot and from these two pictures this video was produced. The video is meant to be an animated illustration of how you can start with an ugly duckling of a gravel pit and create a beautiful swan of a nature reserve. The project began in the late nineties and was modified with the construction of the Southern Development Link Road and the associated flood relief scheme.

The task of nurturing and managing the site was given to Northants Wildlife Trust now known as, The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire. Wildlife BCN has done a sterling job, together with their band of enthusiastic volunteers. The trust has created an impressive diverse habitat, which is a haven for a wide range of wildlife. After decades of development Storton’s Pits is now an urban reserve surrounded by, roads, sports stadia, housing and industrial/retail outlets.

The eastern end of the reserve had a large open area which was planted with phragmitis to create a reed bed. This is now considered to be Northamptonshire’s largest reed bed and is host to a significant proportion of nesting summer migrants. Storton’s is also the focus of the Northants Ringing Group activities and is an important site within the group. The eastern end dissected by the reed bed, is split into two sides. The north side is reed, scrub and some wood habitat, which is used throughout the winter with some ringing in summer. The south side is primarily a summer ringing site and has a large meadow area with reed, scrub and wood.

All ringing data is submitted to the British Trust for Ornithology, to produce impartial science, communicated clearly for the benefit of birds and people.