Thorley Wash nature reserve

Thorley Flood Pound
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Channel of the River Stort before it was canalised to become the Stort Navigation^[1]
Area of Search	Hertfordshire
Grid reference	TL490183
Interest	Biological
Area	17.3 hectares
Notification	1986
Location map	Magic Map

Water vole sculpture by Daniel Cordell^[2]

Thorley Wash or Thorley Flood Pound is a 17.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Thorley, south of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire.^[3]^[4] It was formerly a flood pound for the Stort Navigation, which was decommissioned in 2004 and converted to a more natural state. It was purchased by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust from the Environment Agency in 2011.^[5]^[6]

Habitats include tall wash grassland, which is now rare, marsh and waterlogged grassland. It has a wide variety of plant species, including reed sweet-grass and meadowsweet. There are flowers such as fen bedstraw and early marsh orchid. Breeding birds include snipe and water rails.^[3] The site also has the endangered Desmoulin's whorl snail, which is in the Red Date Book, together with diverse dragonflies, damselflies, birds, bats, small mammals and reptiles.^[5]

There are five wooden sculptures by Daniel Cordell, commissioned by the Wildlife Trust in 2012.^[2]

The Stort Navigation forms the boundary between Hertfordshire and Essex, and the site is on the Hertfordshire bank, but access is by a bridge from the towpath on the eastern Essex side. Access is restricted to footpaths due to the dangerous deep silt on the site.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thorley Wash nature reserve.

References

↑ Thorley Wash Nature Reserve, leaflet published by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
1 2 "Thorley Wash Nature reserve". Daniel Cordell. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
1 2 "Thorley Flood Pound citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
↑ "Map of Thorley Flood Pound". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
1 2 "Thorley Wash". Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
↑ Lester, Ahren (28 February 2011). "Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust Secure Thorley Wash Site for Public". Bishop's Stortford Town Ward Times.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hertfordshire

Biological	Aldbury Nowers Alpine Meadow Amwell Quarry Ashridge Commons and Woods Ashwell Springs Benington High Wood Blagrove Common Bricket Wood Common Croxley Common Moor Frogmore Meadows Great Hormead Park Hertford Heath Hunsdon Mead Knebworth Woods Moor Hall Meadows Northaw Great Wood Oddy Hill and Tring Park Patmore Heath Plashes Wood Redwell Wood Roughdown Common Rye Meads Sarratt Bottom Sawbridgeworth Marsh Sherrardspark Wood Tewinbury Therfield Heath Thorley Flood Pound Tring Reservoirs Tring Woodlands Turnford and Cheshunt Pits Wain Wood Water End Swallow Holes Whippendell Wood Wormley-Hoddesdonpark Wood North Wormley-Hoddesdonpark Wood South

Geological	Castle Lime Works Quarry Downfield Pit, Westmill Hillcollins Pit Little Heath Pit Moor Mill Quarry, West Oughtonhead Lane Westwood Quarry

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

Dacorum	Aldbury Nowers Alpine Meadow Long Deans Tring Reservoirs

East Hertfordshire	Amwell Quarry Balls Wood Danemead Hertford Heath Hunsdon and Eastwick Meads King's Meads Patmore Heath Rye Meads Tewin Orchard and Hopkyns Wood Tewinbury Thorley Wash Waterford Heath Willowmead

Hertsmere	Hilfield Park Reservoir

North Hertfordshire	Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs Blagrove Common Fox Covert Hawkins Wood Hexton Chalk Pit Oughtonhead Purwell Ninesprings

St Albans	Broad Colney Lakes

Stevenage	Ridlins Mire

Three Rivers	Frogmore Meadows Longspring Wood Stocker's Lake

Watford	Cassiobury Park

Welwyn Hatfield	Fir and Pond Woods Gobions Wood Lemsford Springs Stanborough Reedmarsh Stocking Springs Wood

Hillingdon	Broadwater Lake Old Park Wood Uxbridge Alderglade

Former reserves	Barkway Chalk Pit Darland's Lake Nature Reserve Hill End Pit Marshalls Heath Pryor's Wood Rowley Green Common Sawbridgeworth Marsh Telegraph Hill

Coordinates: 51°50′36″N 0°09′41″E / 51.8434°N 0.1615°E / 51.8434; 0.1615

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