BBC News made the following announcement:-
Abbey Fishponds in Abingdon is to be made into an official Local Nature Reserve. The new designation was declared by Natural England and Vale of White Horse District Council. The declaration ensures the protection of the reserve and marks it as "of local importance to the area."
"Abbey Fishponds is a beautiful area that is home to a vast array of plants and animals," said Cllr Mary de Vere, Executive Member for Planning. "By being designated a local nature reserve it will allow us to protect and maintain the site for many years to come, meaning that people of all ages can continue to explore the area."
Abbey Fishponds is so called because it is where local monks fished for their carp in medieval times. "It's a little gem," Helen d'Ayala, Community Wildlife Officer at Berkshire, Buckingshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) told BBC Oxford. "It's a quiet area that you can walk in and forget all your troubles. It's a lovely place to amble. We manage it so that there's a nice diversity of different habitats. The scrub, the fen and the reed bed are key habitat. They're declining in the UK because of land drainage and pressures from property building."
The reserve is home to a variety of wildlife, from Harvest mice and Reed Warblers, to the dragonflies that lay their larvae in the water and the nationally-protected Bullhead fish.
There is also a strong population of water voles, which are endangered in many other parts of Oxfordshire.
Helen d'Ayala has managed the seven hectares of land for four years and thinks it has much to offer. "It's an area of recreational land that has got public access and is a good facility for local people. It's quite important in a built up area like this to have a really special place for people to go to enjoy the natural history."
The unveiling of the sign designating the site a Local Nature Reserve on Tuesday 27 July will coincide with Dragonfly Discovery Day as residents are encouraged to join in a dragonfly hunt.
