Knothole

On a gloriously sunny day, Pete and I walked round Eye Green Nature Reserve,  now managed by Froglife after the Wildlife Trust decided that they couldn't cope with issues relating to creeping development and anti-social behaviour. 

Neither of us had visited for many years, and inevitably the trees and scrub surrounding the site had increased, but there were still some good areas of open vegetation, including a strong population of Woolly Thistle and Froglife seem to be actively managing some of the overgrown areas to improve the habitat diversity.

Quarrying in the area that makes up Eye Nature Reserve dates back to the late 19th century. The lake was created by the excavation clay, sand and gravel. The clay was used to make bricks in the adjacent Northam Brickworks. Brick making continued on the site until 1990 when the works closed. The site where the works were located is now a housing estate but the lake and surrounding woodland remain in public ownership. Locally the lake has also been known as the ‘knothole’. 

We used our visit to view the adjacent farmland which has recently been bought with a view to achieving biodiversity net gain. As most of it is currently intensively arable, net gain should be fairly easy to achieve, though ideas of turning it back to fenland might not be possible!