Dinton Pastures Country Park

Dinton Pastures Country Park is a

The park is 450 acres (180 ha) in size.[1] It has seven lakes, two rivers, three public bird hides, and meadows.^[2] One of the lakes, Lavells Lake is designated as a local nature reserve.^[3] The two rivers that flow through the park are the River Loddon and the Emm Brook.^[4][5] The Museum of Berkshire Aviation and the headquarters of the British Entomological and Natural History Society are both located in the park.^[6][7]

The site is popular for a number of sports including sailing, angling, kayaking, canoeing,^[2] and running, playing host to a parkrun.^[8] Other facilities include play areas and a cafe.^[9][10]

History

Anglo Saxons farmed the park's river meadows and called the area Whistley, where "wisc" means marshy meadows and "lei" means a woodland clearing.^[11] From the start of the 17th century, much of the area then belonged to Windsor Forest.^[12]

The present-day cafe was originally a farmhouse built in 1904, which was called 'High Chimneys'.^[13] In 1924 the area was sold to a farmer who renamed the farm after his home village of Dinton, near Aylesbury.^[14]

The country park is part of the river Loddon's flood plain and so makes a good source of gravel, between 1969 and 1979 an extensive gravel extraction program was carried out. Much of the gravel was used for the M4 and the A329(M).^[15]

In 1979 Dinton Pastures was opened to the public.^[16] In 1992, part of the country park, Lavells Lake, was declared as a local nature reserve by Wokingham Borough Council.^[3]

Fauna

The site has the following fauna:^{[5][12][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]}

Mammals

• Soprano pipistrelle
• Common pipistrelle
• Daubenton's bat
• Brown long-eared bat
• European rabbit
• Red fox
• Roe deer
• Muntjac deer
• Stoat
• Weasel
• Wood mouse
• Eastern grey squirrel
• Field vole
• Mink

Invertebrates

Birds

Amphibians and reptiles

• Common frog
• Grass snake
• Common toad
• Smooth newt
• Great crested newt
• Red-eared slider

Fish

• Common rudd
• Common roach
• Tench
• Common bream
• Northern pike
• Common barbel
• European chub
• Common carp
• European perch
• Three-spined stickleback

Flora

The site has the following flora:^[30][31][32]

Trees

• Betula pendula
• Prunus spinosa
• Quercus robur

Plants

• Impatiens glandulifera
• Leucojum aestivum
• Ulex europaeus
• Anthriscus sylvestris
• Dipsacus
• Primula veris
• Phragmites communis
• Inula helenium

References

External links

• Media related to Dinton Pastures Country Park at Wikimedia Commons
• Wokingham Borough Council: Dinton Pastures Country Park
• Photo gallery featuring Dinton Pastures Carp

51°26′46″N 0°52′44″W / 51.446°N 0.879°W / 51.446; -0.879